Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
by fatal frame fanatic
Summary: After narrowly surviving a car crash that killed her fiance Yuu Aso, Rei Kurosawa takes Miku Hinasaki to a haunted house, where she see's Yuu's spirit COMPLETE! R
1. Prologue: The Daydream

**Fatal Frame III**

The Tormented

**Prologue** **The Daydream**

June 7th, 1988

"I love you…" 25 year old Yuu Aso whispered to his new fiancé, 23 year old Rei Kurosawa.

"I love you too." She whispered back, smiling. Rei was an attractive young woman, with a mole below her right eye. She was wearing a blue long sleeved shirt that parted at the bottom, showing her belly button. There was a white frilly lace around her sleeves and shoulders area. She was wearing black pants and cheap silver high heels. She was driving down a dark and extremely rainy highway to their newly purchased home in Nagoya Japan. "It's really coming down isn't it?" Yuu said, squinting through the opaque windshield. Rei was having trouble maintaining control of the vehicle during each water filled pothole they hit. "You got it hunny?" Yuu said, squeezing her arm. She nodded, biting her bottom lip. She turned the wipers to ultra as she came to a sharp right turn. A streetlight suddenly came into view, and Rei closed her eyes for a brief second.

"_Rei watch out!"_

Yuu screamed as the wheel turned left and she hit another hole and careened out of control, sliding on the water and crashing into a steel guardrail. Her car went over the ditch and they rolled several feet into the forest. The deafening sound of crashing glass and crunching metal filled her ear as the hood suddenly caved in and pinned her to the steering wheel. The car stopped, and all Rei could hear was her quick breathing. She pushed up and felt the hood lessen a bit. Tiny puddles filled the upturned car as the rain fell even harder. There was a flash of lightning, and then a loud rumble of thunder. She felt her window, and notices that it was shattered. She wriggled to the side, feeling her body move a bit. She grabbed at the ground outside, feeling the water soaked dirt sink into her fingernails. She clawed and pulled, finally freeing her left arm and shoulder. She wriggled her right arm free and clawed, pulling her torso out. "Yuu, hold on! I'm coming!" Rei screamed through the pounding rain. She didn't hear a reply. She kicked her feet, pulling them from the pinned steering wheel and felt the pressure leave her body. Her leg was bleeding, and the black pants she was wearing were ripped. She touched at the warm spot at her shoulder, and felt her finger go into her shoulder a bit. She jerked away in a howl of pain. She had been cut bad. She looked around. The highway was empty, and the only light was the ominous glow of the car's headlights. She looked back toward the car, and saw rows and rows of dark trees. Her new Toyota was halfway in the ditch, and halfway through the twisted guardrail. Rain lashed down on the smashed car, glass glinting eerily from the street lamp nearby. "Yuu!" She called, rushing to his side of the car. She slipped and felt her legs almost buckle. She saw an arm lying haphazardly out of the shattered window. "Oh no…" She felt the dread knot up in her stomach. A flash of lightning showed her all she needed to know. Yuu's head was crushed between the hood and part of the guardrail, a piece disappearing into his skull. Blood dripped onto his expressionless face. Yuu Aso had breathed his last. Rei dropped to her knees, mud caking her lower body. The tears that were absent before came. Her anguished sobs rose above the steady drum of rainfall. She uttered the only word in her mind.

"_Y-Yuu…"_

2 months later

Rei snapped another picture with her 35mm camera. The dust danced in the glimpse of sunlight beams coming through several large cracks in the old house. She turned to her right a bit, getting a good angle of a ceiling beam hanging from the ceiling going through the old wooden floor, and a boarded up window behind that. She snapped another photo. "That was a good one…" She thought. Rei backed up a little, closing her left eye for another shot. She heard a rustling and footsteps behind her, and felt a breeze. Her heart quickened a bit.

"_This house IS supposed to be haunted…"_

"Rei…?"

She heard the soft, gentle voice of Miku Hinasaki. She gasped, the sudden voice startling her. Miku came up behind her, her auburn hair bobbing in its usual hairpin. She bent down and picked up her equipment. "Should we get going?" She asked, holding the metal case with her cameras lenses and flash bulbs with two hands against her body. Rei glanced around, giving a little sigh.

"I heard this house was haunted," she gave another quick sigh, "to bad it's not…" Miku's gentle, innocent face gave a flash of fright. "Well, rumors are just rumors." Her voice quivered a bit. She quickly added in the same tone, grabbing the tripod to her left, "I'm gonna load these up." She walked briskly toward the entrance of the house.

Rei took one final picture of a long, dark hallway that turned left at the end. "Huh…?" She looked up-

-and saw a man standing at the end of the hall. She took several steps forward. "…!" Rei's voice was choked in her throat. It was Yuu Aso. "Yuu…?" Rei called shakily. He turned, walking down past the hall and out of sight. Rei felt drawled to him. She clutched her camera and jogged down the hall. "Yuu! Wait!" She rounded the corner, and suddenly everything changed. Snow was falling heavily, and the air grew cold. She was outside, and stretched before her was rows and rows of nameless gravestones. The place had no resemblance to the abandoned manor where she was taking pictures. "Where am I?" She was in a tiny courtyard. Ahead past the stones was a set of double doors, and all around her was the house lined with a balcony and windows. She stepped forward, clutching her camera. There were tiny candles lit on each side of the door. She reached for the handle and pulled. The door opened up, and inside was dim. On the ground was a glow. She stepped inside from the cold and picked it up. It was a flashlight. "Whose is this? Who else is here?" Rei thought. There was a split partition screen in front of her, and the room continued left or right. She suddenly hears raspy breath, as though a man was having an asthma attack. She saw no one around, and then thought.

"My camera…"

She raised the camera-

-and was shocked to see a man with his back turned and his shoulder rising and falling quickly. She snapped a photo, and he disappeared. Rei then felt her own fear building. A ghost… She turned left and walked down and took a right, going up several steps that led into the main part of the room. Ahead were rows of shelves, the tiny sliding white doors broken and crumbling. Nothing was too useful there. Ahead was a set of stairs and she could see up into the room above. To the left was a roped off door. To the right was the part of the room surrounded by the partition screen. Where the man stood was a little Buddhist altar. She looked past the steps and saw a long and dark hallway. The dust swirled around the beam of the flashlight. She stepped forward-

-and a figure appeared in the dark hall. Rei knew who it was instantly. Yuu. She jogged forward and took the left turn. Ahead was a door and to the right, the hall branched. She went through the door ahead. "Yuu?!" She called, not really expecting an answer. On the left wall was a large mirror that went down the hall a bit. At the end the hall went right, then a sharp left. She heard the sound of a woman's breathing. She raised the camera and saw a woman with ropes through her eyes and needles pierced in her hands standing on the other side, pressing her eyeless face to the lattice. Rei snapped a photo and she disappeared. Rei continued walking down the hall. Snow was falling through the roof and cold air was blowing through. She looked up and saw a hole in the roof and the snow filled starlight sky.

"More blood!"

Rei heard a man scream. She spun around-

-and saw a priest running at her with a raised bloody cleaver. "AHHH!" Rei screamed and turned running. To the left was a door and to the right was a staircase. She went up the stairs, pumping her legs as hard as she could. The ghost followed, slashing at her with the bloody weapon. She crashed through the door on the right wall and pressed her back up against it. Her breathing slowed a bit, and she took in her new surroundings. It was cold again, and ahead was a little garden. A skinny tree was in the middle and a paper doll was tied to the trunk. It was a square garden, with a soft blue lantern and double doors ahead past the garden and two branching hallways on the left and right sides. A large, withered tree was in the middle of the little garden. She then saw Yuu walking through the double doors. Her heart jumped and she ran around toward the double doors. As she passed the left branch, a little girl in a white dress appeared, holding a stake and hammer. She bowed to Rei, whispering,

"Stay here…forever…"

Rei ignored her and kept running to the double doors. She pulled them open, and was awed at the site she saw. A large shrine was up ahead, and off the right was another one. They were both huge. The ground was white from snow, and large pillars held up the shrine ahead. Rei stepped down the wooden steps and started toward the shrine ahead on the black marble path. Yuu then appeared, standing there and staring at her with such sad eyes. He then turned and walked into the shrine. "Wait! There's still something I need to say! Please Yuu, don't go!" She felt the tears again as her mind played the tragic scene from two months ago. She ran up the path and pulled at the shrine door. Her mind blanked, and suddenly she was standing in a dark corridor. Open wooden windows lined the wall to her left. Decorative red cloths swayed in the constant cold breeze, followed by the snow. She peered through the cloths as she got a glimpse of a figure walking toward her. "Yuu?" She called, the flashlight giving her minimal light in the dark enshrouded hall. Suddenly the figure disappeared, and then appeared in front of her. It was a woman, with long black hair. She was wearing a blue kimono, but the top had ripped away, exposing her chest. Her arms, neck, body, face, _even her eyes,_ were covered in a glowing blue snake tattoo. Rei backed up, her breathing quick. She hit a wall, and the woman stepped closer, extending her arms and wrapping herself around Rei. She screamed, and before Rei closed her eyes, she saw the glistening tattooed eyes of the moaning woman. She then felt herself lying down, freezing cold. She was only covered in a thin white sheet. She tried to move, but then saw that her limbs were tied down. She gasped, and her voice echoed in the large dark cavern. The blue lantern beside her offered her a view of the four little girls surrounding Rei. Their dark hair covered most of the children's facial features. They kneeled down, each at her four limbs. They began chanting what sounded like a lullaby.

"…_Perform the Rite of Stakes, her limbs pinned tight…"_

Their voices were almost peaceful, if it wasn't for the stakes and hammers in their hands. They each place a stake over her palm and ankle. She then felt excruciating pain start at her feet and work up her body. She wanted to scream, to stop the etching pain going through her body. She then saw the blue snake tattoo creeping up her skin, etching into her veins. That's what was causing the pain, and it was the exact one that covered the tattooed woman. The girls continued their chant, each one raising their stakes…and smiling. Rei felt the pain enter her eyes, and her vision was blurred by blue pain. The girls brought the stakes, and she felt them pierce the flesh and crack the bone. She screamed, looking up. She was back in the hall in the abandoned mansion. She looked at her hands as though she was seeing them for the first time. No holes, no tattoo. "It was all, a daydream?" She thought.

"Rei?!" She heard Miku call. Miku's light footsteps came up behind her. "Rei, are you okay? What happened?" Miku's eyes were filled with concern. Rei looked down the hall again. Tattered red cloths hung loosely.

"_Was it a daydream?"_

"Oh, it was nothing." She hurried past Miku, hoping she didn't see the terrified look or tears on her face.

She took another sip of her green tea, still recovering from the events of earlier that day. "Was I just imagining…Yuu?" She set her tea down as the last of her photo's developed. It was of the long hallway. She saw something unusual, and grabbed her tongs. She picked it up, shaking the chemicals from it. She gasped as she saw what was at the end of the hall.

It was Yuu.

"I did imagine that…didn't I…?"

She walked upstairs and quickly changed into her pale blue nightgown. "I need sleep, that's all." She lay down, and almost instantly fell asleep as she was overcome with drowsiness. She saw herself standing in snow, candles and lanterns lighting the snowy grounds. Ahead were steps leading to a huge manor. Snow fell gently over the old Japanese manor, the small flakes glittering like crystals in the flickering candlelight of the courtyard. Several gravestones were piled on top of each other, the words carved into them so faded that they were now impossible to read. She blinked, and at the same time felt that she needed to go in the manor. It looked familiar. She had been there, but when?

She steps up to the front door, and slowly opens it.

"This place is…"


	2. Hour 1: The Sign

Hour 1 The Sign 

As far as she could tell, she was in the foyer or entrance to the house. Two blue flamed torches were on both sides of the double doors she came through, and ahead was a long hall lit with a candle here or there, and several drawers were back against the wall lining the hallway. Cobwebs swayed gently in a random draft, and she could see dust dancing in the pale moonlight coming from the end of the hall. To the left was some basins and a door made into the lattice. Beyond the door was blackness. The door was locked with a notched arrow design. She then noticed her clothing. It was the same outfit she wore the night Yuu died. A navy blue low cut shirt with a floral design on the front and tied with spaghetti straps on the lower back part and the parting at the belly. It had straps going from the back over the shoulders and clipped at the neck. She wore black pants on the bottom and some cheap silver high-heeled shoes. On her neck was a sterling silver locket with a picture of her on one side and Yuu on the other. Her engagement gift from Yuu. "Why am I wearing this? What the hell is going on?" She felt a lump in her pocket, and pulled it out. It was the flashlight. Again, it came on, fully charged. She decided to check around, see what she could find. She began walking forward, taking her steps slow. Most of the drawer's shelves were warped shut from old and moisture. The one towards the end of the hall opened, and she found a bronze bottle of herbal medicine. Here the hall branched left with a few steps, and right with another hall lit with a dying candle jutting from the wall in a decorative brass holder. She took the hall. At the end, it turned left, and there was a paper lattice door at the end. A wave of coldness hit her, and for a second she swore she saw a little girl standing there pointing at her with a tear stained face. "I don't even have my camera…" Rei thought as it hit her. She was, to put it loosely, unarmed. She continued forward as the light from the candle dimmed away and her flashlight gave her the only source of light. She opened the door, and awed at the sight. It was a very large hearth room. With partition screens surrounding it and a platform over to the right with a ladder leading up to it. To the left was a set of stairs and a little cubby space underneath it. She checked the little space, but there was nothing but several warped boxes. She left the cobweb-infested area and decided to check up the platform. The little door up here was locked with a Bellflower design. She went carefully back down the ladder and noticed a door behind the partition screen. She checked it but it too was sealed.

"It's not the…child's fault…"

Rei heard the whisper of a woman. She stepped out from the screen and saw a woman holding a little girl's hand at the base of the staircase. She stumbled back, but the apparitions disappeared. It looked like a mother and daughter. She knelt down by the fireplace. Soot and traces of blood were piled in deep under a copper pot used to boil things. The pot was filled with webs and a spider lazily stringing a new web. She stood up and walked over to the steps and heard the creaking of the floorboards. She raised her flashlight and looked up the steps. A woman in a long black skirt and dirty brown blouse was walking by. "Hey! Hello!?" Rei called. The woman didn't stop. Rei hurried up the dark steps. At the top she stopped, not seeing the woman anywhere. "Another ghost…?" Rei thought. Although Rei hadn't gotten the cold feeling from the woman in the brown blouse, she could still conclude that this manor was no doubt haunted, and she was getting an uneasy feeling in her body. This room was open, with some stacked partition screen in the right corner and a door with a candle beside it in the left corner. An upturned and broken drawer was in the middle of the room, and cloths were strewn everywhere. Something moving near the screen caught her eye. She looked over quickly, scanning the area with the flashlight. She saw a quick glimpse of ghostly white fingers disappear into the screen, and in its place was some sort of item. She walked up to it, and saw that it was a camera. It was an antique no doubt, Japanese symbols around the protruding lens. It was a bellows type camera, with occult markings etched into the chased metal cover. There was a circle around the viewfinder and a filament at the top, along with a number bar to tell the number of shots left and type of film. Carved on the metal covering on the back with the place to put the film was the word **Camera Obscura**. She opened the back, and saw a blue roll of film labeled Type 14

She closed it, and somehow felt more secure with this camera than with her 35mm camera. "What powers does this camera posses?" Rei thought. Clutching it to her chest, she walked past the mess in the room and tried the door. It opened with ease. _**DING! DING! DING!**_

Rei heard the repeated high-pitched ding of metal hitting metal. She stepped inside, and the hall took an immediate right. At the end, it continued with lattice along the left wall or a right. She walked up and took the right. At the end of this short walked the hall turned left, then at the end left again. At each corner was a glossy blue candle that seemed to radiate a hint of blue deep in the burning ember. Rei awed at its simple yet elegant design. Blue was her favorite color. Rei looked past the candle and saw the door she had come through to get in this room. This room went in a square. Before she went back to the beginning, she stopped at a square opening in the wall where the peculiar noise was the loudest. She pressed her face against it, looking into the darkened room. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the image of a girl in white hammering a metal stake into the ground with a metal hammer. Her jet-black hair was up in pigtails, the red bows the only real color to her figure.

The girl turned suddenly, and then disappeared after whispering,

"Who's there…?"

Rei backed away quickly, raising the camera. She placed a hand over her chest, as though to slow her heart. "What's going on…? Where am I?!" She thought frantically. The high dinging sound stopped, and was replaced by a sad sobbing. Rei forced her eyes not to water. "Who's there?" She called, her voice quivering. She walked forward toward the lattice, camera raised. Crouched against the wall was the woman in the brown blouse and skirt, on the other side of the lattice. "Hello?" Rei called. She hit the shutter button on the camera by accident, and the picture came out, strangely, undeveloped.

"No…STAY AWAY!!"

The woman shrieked, standing up and rushing away down the hall. "No! Wait!" Rei called, not wanting to lose the only other person in here. She walked down the lattice a bit to get a better view of the hall she ran down.

"Don't want to see…anymore…"

The tattooed woman appeared with her back turned, and Rei spun behind the wall, out of her sight. She covered her mouth to hush her quickened breathing. After a few minutes, she peeked back around. The woman was gone. She left the square corridor and was back in the 2nd floor of the hearth room. A cool glowing blue lantern was in the corner, and Rei realized she had missed it before. Passing it gave her a cool and secure feeling. She walked on down the stairs to the hearth room. Since every door in here was locked aside from the one she came in earlier, she walked over to it, and placed her hand on the sliding knob.

"Have you seen…him?"

Rei's eyes turned, and she felt a cold presence behind her. She spun around waving the flashlight wildly. Nothing was there, although it sounded like the woman holding the little girls hand. Rei calmed down a bit, and turned to leave again.

"Where did he go…?"

Rei heard the voice of a small child, and suddenly cold pain pierced her stomach. She looked down-

-and was faced by the black eyes of a small girl. Rei screamed, stumbling backward. Her heel slipped on a loose floorboard, and she stumbled again. Cold waves then hit her back and she turned to see the mother advancing. Rei raised the camera hitting the shutter button. The mother repelled, and Rei felt the daughter pass through her and run to the mother. Rei raised the camera again, looked for the mother and daughter, and saw them holding hands in the dark corner by the stairs. She snapped another photo, that wasn't as effective but she saw it hurt them. The girl pointed at Rei with her free hand and said accusingly,

"You killed daddy!"

Rei took this opportunity to snap a photo and saw that it hurt both of them to a greater effect. A little red light flashed near the filament, and that's when Rei noticed that the filament was glowing deep red. Rei declared this type of power shot to be a "Fatal Frame". The woman screamed a cry of rage, and the little girl burst into tears as spiritual power sucked into the camera and the ghosts disappeared. Rei took a moment to regain her breathing and look through the pictures that the camera had ejected during the fight. She picked out the best one with both of the spirits in it and with a pen in her pocket labeled it Mother and Daughter. She opened the door she was heading out of before the battle and walked back through the twisty hall toward the foyer, but stopped when she saw feet jutting out from the wall. There was a torn note at Rei's feet. She bent down and picked it up. It read:

ItS NOt MY faUlT i diDNt chOOSe TO surVIVe

She then heard the frantic whisper of the woman in the brown blouse.

"…Died too…if only I'd died too…I should have been taken…I was the only one to survive…It's not my fault that I was the only one to survive I should have been taken… I only survived because I wanted to…if I had died with everyone else YES YES if I had died with everyone else I wouldn't…"

Rei kneeled down beside the woman, who was looking around frantically with her arms wrapped around her knees. Rei whispered gently, "Are you all-" The woman cut her off,

"BE HERE!!"

She scurried to the other side of the hall facing the longer dark part of the continued hall. Rei stood up and looked at her. Was she seeing…Yes there was a tattoo going up the woman's body. She was staring down the hall with wide eyes, her mouth frozen open and tiny gasping sounds coming out. Rei looked back toward the hall-

-and gasped pressing herself against the wall the woman was. There was a female shadow at the end of the hall, growling and moaning in a scratchy, raspy voice. The shadow took a step and Rei began breathing harder, and the woman jumped up, running away screaming as the tattoo covered her body. Rei's eyes though, were trained on the shadow, who she saw wasn't a shadow at all, but the evil tattooed woman. The woman stepped past the first candle, which died down once she passed. Rei was numbed with terror, and couldn't even raise the camera, only stare at the hideous figure approaching. The woman passed the last candle, and it too went out, plunging the hall in darkness, the flashlight giving her the only glow of light. Rei looked around frantically for the woman who seemed to leave as quickly as the candle flame did. Rei started to relax-

-and the woman appeared groping in front of her. Rei caught another glimpse of her hideously twitching eye before going under the woman's arm and running down the hall. "The exit is right down there, only a few more feet." Rei's frantic mind processed. She heard the beating moans of the tattooed woman behind her, and felt the stabbing cold get closer. Her shoulder ran into one of the many drawers lining the hall, and she felt fresh pain sear through her arm. She stumbled, but regained balance. She risked a glance behind her, and saw the woman with her arm outstretched, only one ugly eye and her mouth twisted in furry and angering pain visible through the dark hair. This made Rei ran faster. She tried to dodge another drawer, and this slowed her down. Suddenly the most intense pain ever hit her good shoulder, and before her eyes she sees in a black and white haze girls hammering stakes, and the image of the tattooed woman's face and her horrible raspy voice saying,

"Let me sleep…forever…"

She then felt the woman's cold, bony fingers barely graze her shoulder blade-

-and she broke through the doors, hearing them crack as she ran by. Tears stung her eyes, and she was screaming as she ran to the blue lanterns ahead, signaling the entrance to the house. The quick hall went by in a blur, the only thing in her mind was to get away from the evil apparition. She burst through the doors and a bright light hit her eyes.

Rei jumped up, and saw that she was sitting in bed wearing her nightgown.

"Only a…nightmare?" She thought quickly. Suddenly the pain hit her again, and for a second she could have swore she saw a bruise or the tattoo spreading on her shoulder where the woman touched her, and heard the terrible voice of the tattooed woman again,

"_No one has EVER survived this curse…"_

Her bedroom door burst open and Miku appeared. "Um…Rei? Uhh…" Miku stuttered as she spoke. "Is everything okay? I heard you cry out…I was worried. You've been having so many nightmares lately." Rei looked at her shoulder. Nothing was there, only her pale skin.

"Oh I'm fine…" Rei stammered. Miku started to say something but Rei cut her off, "I just…had a bad dream." Miku took that as a sign to leave and shut her door quietly. Rei took what had happened in. "What is that place? Why is…why is Yuu there…?" Rei thought solemnly. "Those stabbing cold fingers…that intense fear… I guess I better get up…" Rei threw her legs over her bed, and immediately reached for an item on her nightstand. It was the gold and diamond embedded engagement ring Yuu gave her. She always wore it, even after his death. She wasn't sure why, but felt like she was betraying him if she didn't wear it. She had his put up in his room, but rarely ever went in there. She stood up, stretching out the kinks of sleeping on a worn out spring mattress. She heard the constant drum of rain again. It had rained now for two days straight. She walked to her closet, moving aside some cardboard boxes. She still hadn't fully packed yet. Just not the energy to do it. Miku had arranged her cloths on hangers, but that's about it. She pulled out loose fitting cotton pajama pants and a loose gray navy top. She closed the closet and looked at her image in the mirror. Her short black hair was untidy and she had a couple of rings under her eyes. "Comes from crying myself to sleep I guess…" Rei thought. She slipped on a pair of brown house shoes that were overly big and headed to the door. She stopped and glanced at some pictures tacked to her door. They were of previous assignments. A lighthouse, an old well, and some other junk. One was of the abandoned manor that she and Miku had went too. Rei hadn't been to motivated to find out much about it, she just knew it was suppose to be haunted. "Now that you look at it, that house reminds me a lot of the one in my dream…" Rei thought. She opened the door and headed left down the hall. The balcony gave her a view of the first floor, and taking a left was another hall that lead to Miku's room and Yuu's room. Rei noticed the sound of rain and stopped to peek out of her window. It was pouring again, just like it had yesterday. Rei continued on down the steps and plopped down on the large orange sectional couch. The room was dark, but it was because all the curtains were shut. Her thirty-two inch television stood on an entertainment center in the corner of the room. A plant was against the wall and the floor lamp was turned off. "Good morning Rei." Came Miku's voice from behind her. Rei turned and saw Miku standing behind the bar in the kitchen. Miku was wearing a pink tank top with colorful pink blotches under a white blouse, a dark pink skirt and brown stockings with brown shoes

The spot Miku was standing in offered a good mom's eye view. Rei managed a weak smile. Miku continued. "Looks like rain all day today too. I checked your schedule, and you don't have much work this week. Why don't you try to relax? You've been working awfully hard this week, it's a wonder your camera isn't broken." Miku chuckled to herself. Rei smiled at Miku's not so funny joke. "At least she's trying…" Rei thought. Miku looked up again from the food she was preparing. "A letter came in today." She sounded a bit scared. Rei stood up and strolled over to the other side of the bar, resting on one of the stools. "Really? Who's it from?" Miku grabbed a white envelope from the counter. "Um, it's addressed to…Yuu…" She handed it over. Rei tried not to let her emotions take over. "Thank…you." She choked out. She tore the envelope and read the neatly folded paper:

Dear Yuu,

Sorry for not writing in so long. How are things going with Rei? You're a really lucky man, I saw that picture you sent of her. She's a very pretty woman. Anyway, I think I'm going to research further about the urban legend. Like I thought, my niece, Mio's symptoms are very similar to the disease associated with the urban legend. If you find anything out about this, please send it. It might provide a clue to helping Mio. I've decided to stop my other tasks and devote all my working time into the urban legend. According to some documents the camera I sent you is a rare Camera Obscura. I found it in a house near the site where the rumored "Lost Village" is, and it may have a connection to the urban legend.

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei set the note down. She had never seen Kei, but had heard Yuu talk about him. Yuu and him had been working on books of anthropology and folklore. He was a good friend of Yuu and of Miku's brother. Come to think of it Rei has never met her brother. Yuu told her that her brother said to leave Miku in his care if anything happened to him. That's how she had met Miku. She showed an interest in photography so Rei allowed her to be her assistant. Then there was the accident…It would've been impossible to get through Yuu's death if it wasn't for Miku. She was cheerful and hardworking, and always provided comfort when Rei needed it. Rei was about to ask about Miku's brother when Miku broke her out of her thoughts. "He's written several times before. Have you not said anything to him about Yuu's…" She trailed off. Rei quickly changed the subject.

"Kei said something about a Camera Obscura. Maybe it's in Yuu's room." Miku looked at her feet. "Would you like me to go get it?" She asked quietly. Rei placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her another weak smile. "No its fine, I'll get it…I'll be okay." Miku nodded, and Rei turned and headed up the steps toward the hall to Yuu's room. She reached the door and placed a hand on the knob. "Okay…" She thought, taking a deep breath. She opened the door and stepped inside. His room was dark, and the colors were done in different shades of blue. It was originally supposed to be Rei's room but decided to let Yuu use it for his work. His bed was to the right with a nightstand, and at the end of the bed were Yuu's desk and a closed laptop. Several cardboard boxes were in the corner of the room next to the sliding door leading to the closet. Rei closed her eye's to stop the memories and quickly headed over to the desk. She lifted the laptop and saw several documents. Then she heard Yuu's voice. "Rei, may I help you with something." Rei smiled, turning toward the bed.

"Oh, I just wanted to…ask you…" She trailed off, seeing that nobody was there. It had only been her imagination. She squeezed her eyes closed again, and fought back tears. She remembers how they first met. They were students at college. He was opposite her in every way, quiet and kind. Like gently falling rain that washes everything clean. Then the accident happened. She remembered their last full dinner before his death.

**FLASHBACK**

"We're having guests tonight, Miku." Rei smiled at her calmly. Right behind Rei was a man, wearing a green turtle neck shirt with a blue shirt on top. He was wearing a light blue pants and dark blue shoes. His hair was straight down, and short. This is Yuu, Rei's fiancé. He smiled at Miku.

"Hello there." His voice was gentle and kind.

**END FLASHBACK**

She loved rain, how it sounded. But now every time she sees and hears rain she's reminded of the night of the accident. She wiped the droplets from the corners of her eyes and looked at the documents. Yuu wrote them all. The first one read:

The area that Kei says Mayu disappeared in, and where he found Mio, has some interesting background.

"The Lost Village"

The Lost Village or a.k.a. All Gods Village witnessed a massacre during the eve of a special ritual involving twins. The Lost Village was wiped off the map that night, and only one woman survived. "I think her name was Yae Kurosawa, and that she had a sister named Sae but she was reported to have disappeared and Yae had no memory of her past." Rumor has it that if you walk far enough into the forest and pass the twin deity statues, the village forever traps you and day never breaks again. Legend has it that you are eventually drove insane by a woman's horrific laughter that rings throughout the village.

There is another legend that is located on the outskirts of The Lost Village in an area called Himuro. It has to do with the disappearance of Mafuyu.

"Legend of the House of Mutilation or Rope Temple"

Many people are said to be spirited away near the house called Himuro Mansion and their corpse's are always found inside the house. The corpse's always have their hand's, feet, and neck severed off. A woman who bears a resemblance to the documented "Calamity" has been seen in the windows of Himuro Mansion.

Another myth is that of the "Manor of Sleep". It started in the 1960's. I'm still investigating this "Manor of Sleep".

Rei looked a bit longer at the document, then set it down. Underneath it was an old newspaper clipping. It read:

Before daybreak yesterday a mother and daughter who lived in Myojin Village went missing. The names are Makie Kuzuhara and her daughter Kozue. Since last year the two have been searching for the missing husband and father. The two wandered the mountain area every day. An informant says "I went to see them and no one was home. It had been several days since I had spoke to them so I went inside and no one was home, only a couple of soot like marks." Disappearances are being reported all over the area with the same occurrences as the soot-like marks.

Rei remembered seeing something about that on the news a while back. She set the article down and turned toward Yuu's bed. There she saw it on the nightstand. A square object. She walked over and picked it up. It looked a lot like the Camera Obscura from her dream. The metal covering was scratched and the occult like markings was barely readable. She pressed the shutter button, but there was no response. "Must be broken…" She thought. She clutched the camera and hurried quickly out of Yuu's room. "Find it Rei?" She heard Miku call from downstairs. "Yep!" She called back in response. She walked down the hall and took the left heading down the stairs. Rei handed the camera over to Miku. "Wow, it's beautiful…" She commented. She tinkled at the back and a little hatch door flew open.

"Oops…"She said sheepishly.

"What's that?" Rei asked, pointed at a blue roll in the back. Miku pulled it out." It's a roll of Type-14 film." Miku pulled it out, careful of its age. Rei extended her hand and Miku handed the film over. "Think anything is on it?" She asked. Miku shrugged. Rei strode past Miku and headed through the door next to the kitchen. Ahead were her front door and a mail slot, and also a rack to hold shoes and slippers. To the right was a hallway with a door on the left leading to the large shower and ahead on up the hall on the same wall was a doorway leading to a sitting area and praying area along with Yuu's Buddhist altar. Across from that room on the right wall was a small toilet and sink. At the end of the hall was her destination, the darkroom. The few windows in this room were also closed off, and there weren't many pictures on the pale blue walls. She strode up the hall, catching a glimpse of her figure in the large bathroom mirror. "Humm, I've lost some more weight…" She thought glumly. She continued on up to the white door leading to the darkroom. She quickly scurried inside. It was originally suppose to be a storage room but Rei had her developing sinks and red lights installed for her darkroom. She took the crumbling film and began the developing process. After a few moments the picture was finished. She hung it up and peered at it, squinting her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. It was of a woman in a dirty brown blouse and black skirt hugging her knees with a tear stained face. The exact photo she took in the manor in her dream. "This woman…that manor…are they connected to Yuu somehow?" She thought. She headed out of the darkroom and walked quickly back down the hall, entering the living room again. Miku had set some food out on the counter. "So, what did you get?" Miku asked, offering a plate. Rei refused the plate and instead showed her the picture of the woman. "I was wondering if you could research this picture." Miku studied it a bit.

"It's an old photo so…" She trailed off. Rei patted her shoulder.

"Anything is fine. If you cant find anything it's okay, no big deal." Miku smiled.

"Okay, I'll let you know if I find anything." Rei nodded, wondering if she should get involved in this at all.

Rei slipped on her blue nightgown and sat down on her bed. She had decided to set the Camera Obscura on her nightstand. She picked it up, pressing the shutter button again. There wasn't any response. It had been a long day for Rei so she sat the camera down and rested her head on her pillow. "Maybe a little sleep will help…" She thought. She didn't realize how wrong she was.

She saw in a white haze.

_**DING!**_ Hammering. Girls smiling while hammering stakes into something. _**DING!**_ Then the tattooed woman's face, her beautiful facial features covered by the hideous markings. _**DING!**_

Rei was dreaming. She saw herself at the mansion's large front doors. They opened, and again she was drawn inside. "This dream…again…?" The double doors closed behind her. She was in the foyer of the dream manor again, the blue torches lighting up the small area. A light was glowing at her feet. She realized it was the flashlight, again fully charged. Beside it…the Camera Obscura… She picked both up, checking the camera. It had thirty shots of the 14 film. "No, not again…" Rei thought. Also, she was again wearing the outfit she had been wearing the night of the accident. Apparently, every time she had this nightmare she would be wearing this outfit. The doors had locked, so she had no choice but to roam the manor until she woke up…again. She headed forward down the long drawer filled hall.

"STAY BACK!"

A piercing cry startled Rei as the woman in the brown blouse ran from the hall right and headed toward the left hall, opening the door and then slamming it shut.

Rei quickly followed the woman, noticing that the room was L shaped lined with ripped partition screens. Cultural lanterns were scattered on the tan carpet here and there, only giving sparse ember glows. The burnt oak wall paneling darkened the room as well. Rei headed forward, the room taking a right. At the end ahead was a broken drawer and a smashed lantern. She walked up and the room took its final right.

"GO AWAY!"

Rei saw the woman exiting the room by the door on the other side. Rei quickly scanned the cupboard for anything useful, but only found some worn sandals and straw dolls wearing cool, midnight blue kimonos. She slid open the door and continued to follow the woman. "Hello? Where are you?!" Rei called out. There was a staircase right in front of her, and the hall ended to both her left and right in light dusty paneling. She stood at the bottom of the steps and looked up-

-and caught a glimpse of the woman. Once she saw Rei she screamed and retreated out of sight.

"I DIDN'T WANT TO SURVIVE!"

"No, wait!" Rei called. She hurried hastily up the steps. As soon as she reached the top she heard a door close from the closed alcove ahead and to the left. She ran to it, noticing a strange presence fall over her as she entered the tiny space. Staked to the door was a wax and paper doll. Rei tried the door, and it didn't budge even thought the door knob moved. "This doll must be a talisman sealing the door…" Rei thought. She tried to pull the stake out but it was firmly implanted into the door. Then Rei noticed that the Camera Obscura was vibrating gently. She looked at it, and saw that the filament was glowing an brilliant ocean blue. She raised it, looking through the viewfinder. When the camera was aimed at the door the filament glowed the brightest. Out of curiosity Rei snapped a picture. The developed photo came out and Rei saw that the door wasn't in the photo, but a crystal blue light was glowing in a corner somewhere else in the house. On the corner and two walls that surrounded the light was blood. Lots of blood. Spattered on the walls and a couple of puddles on the floor underneath the light. Rei memorized what the location looked like and dropped the photo, leaving the alcove. Ahead was a long hall, with dead ahead the staircase she came up and beside that a staircase going up, and past that further down the hall was a staircase leading down. Judging from the way the picture looked Rei concluded that she needed to go down. With nothing but dead ends at the bottom of the steps she had come up earlier, she past it and the set going up and went back to the farthest part of the hall and took the little hidden staircase in the back. Down here was lined with webs and dust and shelves full of canned goods and old antiques. Doing a 180 turn and the hall extended further with a paper shade lamp in the corner and a tiny door at the back of the room. Rei then noticed that the corner with the lamp looked a lot like the place in the picture. She raised the camera and gasped, jumping back. To her eye everything looked like an old dusty storage space, but through the viewfinder of the camera the walls were covered in blood, and the paper shade lamp was a glowing blue spirit. She slowly raised the camera again and snapped a photo. From upstairs she heard what sounded like burning cloth and shortly after smelled burnt wax. "The talisman…" After taking another look at the midget door, which was locked with a four point well designed lock, she headed back up the stairs and down past the other sets of stairs into the alcove. The burnt doll was lying beside the charred stake at the bottom of the door. She reached out and carefully slid the door open, her senses on full alert. She was greeted by a sturdy looking partition screen and to her right the room continued in a hall, eventually taking a left about twelve feet. She walked slowly with her flashlight raised, the room pitch black except for the glow of the flashlight. She rounded the corner and saw that the room opened out to the left in a quite big space. A closed of area was in the corner and a sliding door closet was at the back of the room. But that's not what Rei saw. At the bottom of the closet was the woman curled up into a ball. Rei hurried forward, kneeling down next to her. "Hello? Are you okay?" She asked. Rei leaned closer as the woman began mumbling something.

"Uh, I didn't do anything wrong…These tattoos…oh no it's too late…I can't escape my dreams…didn't want to…survive…"

Rei then saw a burnt passport by the woman's feet. She picked it up and read what she could. She could make out

SURNAME: TAKIGAWA GIVEN NAME: YOSHINO

Rei set it back down. "Yoshino Takigawa huh?" Rei thought aloud. Suddenly the woman said even louder.

"If you should wake up…Help me…Please, wake me up…. I didn't do anything wrong…why?"

Rei then felt light, and the woman's voice seemed to fade away. Suddenly light hit her eyes, and she was lying on something soft. She bolted upright, breathing hard. She was back at her home in bed. Then she heard what sounded like long fingernails scraping a blackboard, and the pain returned to her shoulder. She saw the tattoo again, only this time it seemed to get a tiny bit bigger before disappearing. Rei didn't bother changing out of her nightgown. She quickly left her room and headed down into the living room. "Miku? You home?" She called out. Rei didn't feel right looking in her room, even though she knew Miku wouldn't care. She went down the stairs and strolled past the couch and saw a handwritten note on the counter. It read:

Dear Rei,

I've gone to research that woman in the photo you gave me. I'll be back later this evening, around three thirty or so. Eat breakfast okay? -Miku

Rei set the note back down on the counter and saw on the bar was a bowl of perfectly made rice balls. It was her favorite. Feeling a bit hungry Rei stuck one in her mouth and chewed hungrily. They were perfect. Rei looked at the clock above her television and saw that it was two-fifty three. Miku would be back in about half an hour. Rei sat down on the couch. Ahead was the two glass sliding doors that lead to her patio. It was raining again today, so there was no way she could go outside and enjoy the spacious view of the city it gave her. Rei picked up the remote and was ready to watch some TV when the phone rang. Rei got up and walked over to her old black cord phone. "Hello?" She said into the receiver. "Rei, it's Miku. I found out about the woman in the photo. Her name is Yoshino Takigawa and she was the only survivor of a plane crash that happened last week. The name of the hospital she is in is called Katsuragi Regional. Do you want the directions?" Rei took a second to reply.

"Yoshino Takigawa…" She thought. "The woman in my dreams."

"Uh Rei, you still there?" Miku asked.

"Yeah, what is the directions?" After getting the directions Rei quickly changed out of her nightgown and called for a taxi.

"Once she came here, she went to sleep for a long time, only waking sparsely. No one is ever able to wake her when she is asleep, and several times we thought she had died." The nurse finished telling Rei. The staff member opened the door to Yoshino's wing and left. Rei walked down the long rows of empty beds. The smell of alcohol and antiseptic was heavy in the air. One reason Rei hated hospitals. At the end where the window was letting in the dense light was Yoshino's bed. The rain was pounding furiously on the windowpane. Rei stepped up to her bed to find the woman looking less frightened and tear struck face sleeping peacefully. Rei remember her plead in the dream.

"_**Please…wake me up…"**_

Rei leaned forward ready to wake the sleeping woman when suddenly a mark began spreading up Yoshino's neck. Rei's eyes widened as she saw the mark turn into the shape of a snake and begin glowing vivid blue. The tattoo…It spread across Yoshino's face and suddenly her eyes bolted open, the tattoo causing her eye to course blue in color. Rei screamed and ran for the exit when the horrible raspy sound of the tattooed woman came from Yoshino's bed.

"I don't want to see anymore…"

Rei stopped abruptly, doing a slow turn back to face Yoshino's bed. "What the hell is happening…" She took several cautious steps towards the bed. She didn't see the sleeping woman anymore. Where her head should be was a black soot mark in the shape of a female head. Rei grasped the wool blanket and reared back, pulling it off the bed. She gasped backing into the window. Yoshino's body was nothing more than a human outline made of deep black soot.

Rei closed the front door to her house. "What a day…" She had reported to the nurse what had happened but she merely shrugged and took Yoshino's sheets to be washed. Rei overheard the doctor saying why and again before finally leaving. Rei slipped on a pair of fuzzy house shoes when Miku came from the left hall, presumably from the bathroom. "Did you go to the hospital?" She asked quietly. Rei nodded, giving her a small grunt before heading toward the shower. "What a day…" She thought miserably as she unclothed herself and started a hot shower. She stepped in the large blue marble shower and let the hot water run over her tired body. Yoshino had said she didn't want to survive. She must've been talking about the plane crash. But why? Why would some one _want_ to die? Rei quickly finished her shower, her mind telling her that sleep was more important. She wrapped herself in a towel and went down the hall into the living room and up the stairs to her room. She slipped on a pair of silk shorts and a loose sleeping kimono and lay down in her bed. This time though, she wasn't so sure that sleep would be helpful this time…

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_ The tattooed woman, the little girls hammering stakes. _**DING!**_ Huge doors. _**DING!**_

Rei was walking through the front double doors of the dream manor again. "No, I want this nightmare to end!" The doors closed behind her. She reflexively looked down and saw the Camera Obscura and the flashlight. She picked them up and decided to go where she last saw Yoshino. She walked down the hall and took the right turn that left and led to the partition screen room. Damn it was easy to get lost in this place. This was the L shaped room. She made a mental not that the partition room was L shaped and continued on to the end. This was the room with several staircases. "Okay, staircase room." Rei thought. She went up the stairs and went toward the alcove. Behind her was the other staircases. She clutched the flashlight as she opened the door and took the sharp right. She didn't hear Yoshino anymore. She walked around until coming to where the room opened up. Everything looked the same except…the closet. It looked like a child was inside of it. She rushed toward it and slid the door open. Rei didn't know to be relieved or scared. It was a doll in a blood red kimono. Then, as though Rei was imagining it, the doll slowly craned its plaster neck to put its glassy green eyes at Rei. Rei backed up, and Yoshino appeared from thin air in front of the closet. "Yoshino!" Rei started toward her until 3 black shadows appeared, surrounding her. Yoshino gave a terrified scream and covered her ears, releasing tear after horrified tear while screaming

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I DIDN'T WANT TO SURVIVE!"

Rei then saw the black wisps turn their attention toward her. Their black beady eyes could be seen by the pale glow of their face, but that was all that could be seen. The rest was lost in a black wisp. Rei raised the camera, noticing that the filament was glowing a deep red. She snapped a picture and one of the wisps retreated and the other two advanced. She waited for another shot of Type-14 to load. Yoshino was still screaming nonsense rocking back and forth wildly. One grabbed toward her, and she snapped a photo to stop it. This gave the third wisp a chance to attack, and grabbed Rei. She felt sharp pain in her upper body. It wasn't as intense as the pain from the tattooed woman, but it was still pain. She screamed and stumbled backward, snapping another photo. The wisp disappeared, along with his buddies. A sudden quietness erupted throughout the room. Rei lowered the camera and looked over at Yoshino. She was still rocking back and forth, but had ceased to say anything else. Rei walked up to her. "Yoshino, it's okay now." She whispered. The frightened woman looked up, her eyes darting around. Rei was relieved, but it was quickly erased when Yoshino lunged at Rei, her arms outstretched and her body now covered in the tattoo. Rei fell back, losing grip of the camera and falling hard on her backside. It then finally hit Rei. Yoshino Takigawa didn't just "disappear" into a black soot mark. Yoshino Takigawa had died. What Rei was seeing now is only her apparition. She felt around frantically for the camera all the while keeping her eyes locked on Yoshino's tormented soul. Finally her hand brushed over it and she raised it, hitting Yoshino in the face. The ghost retreated and Rei jumped up. Yoshino then came at Rei again, and she hit the shutter button a second too late. The ghost rammed her in the shoulder, the coldness sharp and intense. Rei screamed, taking another picture of Yoshino. The ghost then simply disappeared. Rei looked around, clutching the camera in one hand and the flashlight in the other. She heard Yoshino whisper almost sad like

"Your not like…me?"

She backed up, exiting the main part of the room and stepping back out into the hallway. "The coast is clear I guess…" She thought. She turned to head back down the hallway-

-and was faced with Yoshino's tattooed face twisted in pain and fury. Rei screamed in pure terror and Yoshino reached out. Rei instinctively brought her hand to shield her face, and Yoshino grabbed it. Rei screamed louder as the pain became more intense. The tattoo seemed to float magically from her arm to Rei's. And as soon as it happened, it was over.

Rei sat upright, breathing as though she had just run a marathon. The pain in her arm was still so intense. She looked down at it-

-and was looking into the glowing blue eyes of Yoshino as she still gripped her arm. Rei jerked her hand away, and the ghost disappeared. Rei tried to regain a something to normal breathing rate when pain, more intense than ever, hit her shoulder. It felt like someone was taking knives and hammering into her shoulder. However, it didn't stop like usual. It continued to her shoulder and stopped at her collarbone. She saw the tattoo clearly and it soon vanished, taking the pain with it. Yoshino also had the tattoo. Had she been having the same type of dreams as Rei? "What the hell is happening to me?" Rei thought. That was the only thing her mind could think. She got up and threw her bedroom door open. She hurried down the quick hall, glancing over the balcony to see Miku watching TV. She continued down the steps. Once Miku saw her she stood up and snatched a book from the coffee table. "Good morning. Um, Rei…this is," She pulls the book from out behind her back "Yoshino's diary. The hospital staff asked me to take it since her entire family died in the plane crash. Was I right to accept it?" Miku looked at Rei with worried eyes.

"Don't worry about it Miku." Rei said reassuringly. Miku gave a lopsided grin and handed the diary over to Rei. It read:

8/10: Sunny

I heard it is good to write in a diary. I just hope it gets rid of my terrible dream. I'm sad being all alone. If someone reads this maybe I can connect with them.

8/11: Cloudy

My family and Naoya died. But being alone is worse than that harsh fact. Being the only one to survive…left alone…

8/13: Cloudy

I had a nasty dream. Snow was falling on an old manor. I'm alone, but they might be in that house. If I go in I can meet them. But…if I go in to far I may not be able to return…If that's what they want…

8/18: Rainy

Bit by bit, I go in deeper. I'm cold. It's so dark. I can hear a song. Naoya's in there. Mom, Dad, everyone besides me are all in there. The left me behind…because only I survived.

8/27: Rainy again

It's painful. Is the pain the dream? The tattoo spreads. Doctor doesn't see anything…but I do…

: Rain

After sleeping several days I'm only half awake. I'm starting not to know when I'm asleep or not. The doctor listened to my story with interest. At least he showed sympathy. That dream and pain are mine alone. The pain is spreading…

///Rainy? Not sure

Am I to blame for surviving? I didn't choose too…

//: rAiNY

It hurts…It hurts…It hurts… What shoULd I do? FOrgIve me. ThAt tattooed wOMAn is comIng after ME. i can SEE her whEn i'm AWAKE. CanT be TOUched bY her AGain. I don't want TO seE anymore. I Just wanT to leavE the maNOr of sLEep…

Rei lowered the diary. So, she was right. Yoshino was having the same dream, and was being haunted by the same woman. "And look at this." Miku pulled out the photo Rei had developed for her. "Don't these marks on her arms look like tattoos?" Rei nodded solemnly.

"Rei, are you okay? You look pale all of a sudden." Rei shook her head.

"I'm fine, just sleepy all of a sudden. I guess it's the sound of that rain again, it makes me sleepy…" She yawned. She really was tired for some reason. "I think I'm gonna take a nap." Rei headed slowly back up the stairs. Miku placed her chin in her palm, her face mapped with a worried look. Miku thought, "Rei just woke up…"


	3. Hour 2: The Manor of Sleep

Hour 2

The Manor of Sleep

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Heavysnow falling from an open roof. _**DING! **_The man running with the bloodied cleaver, swinging madly. _**DING! **_A man dressed in white rocking back and forth, standing in blood. A gnarled tree root or something protruding from a break in a plaster wall. _**DING! **_A man falling forward groping around, behind him snow falling through a ragged hole in the ceiling, the rest of the hall lost in darkness. _**DING! **_

Rei found herself slipping into the unconsciousness of sleep again. Rei's eyes fluttered open, and she immediately noticed she wasn't at the foyer of the manor anymore. She was in the room where she had last seen Yoshino by the closet, at her feet was a sort of mosquito net that covered only a tiny corner of the room. In her hand was the flashlight, and by her temple was the Camera Obscura. She picked it up, and felt something smooth and slender in her pocket. She reached in and felt the knobs and indentions of a skeleton key. She pulled it out and noticed it had a four-point well design on the handle of it. It was beautifully carved and made of copper. She stuck it back in her pocket and decided to see what else this manor could throw at her. She left the open area and turned right, then left down the small hallway and saw the door at the end. There was a break in the wall that gave her a view of the section of the room with the blind around it. She place her hand on the handle when suddenly she heard a woman's deep, low, and scratchy voice saying, "It's not…enough. We need another sacrifice… Let this priestess never awaken from her dreams for all eternity…" Rei spun around, and saw that nobody was there. She wanted to take a picture, but seeing as film was limited and she hadn't been finding any she resisted the urge and headed out of the room. She was in the little alcove of the staircase hallway. She turned and saw that she had several options. Take the stairs going down in front of her. Beside that to the right was a staircase going up. Passing those two was a hall and in the back of the room was another set of stairs that led to the storage space where she had seen the man in white standing in the blood. Then it hit her. She had marveled over the midget sized door while she had been down there. But it had been locked. And the lock had a four-point well design on it. She eagerly headed past the stairs going to the first floor and the ones going to the third floor. About midway she stopped as the evil man with the bloodied clear appeared walking slowly down the steps, saying in a low voice,

"Still…not enough…"

She held her breath as he slowly disappeared. After counting to ten she followed his spirit down. At the bottom were several shelves that she remembered had nothing of any use on them. Doing a 180 turn and there was the hall that went down. She saw it, the door with the paper shade lamp beside it. She hurried down, fishing the skeleton key out of her pocket. She inserted it into the lock, and it turned smoothly. The lock fell to the ground, and Rei just left the key in it. She opened the door and had to lean until her head was even with her hips just to get through the door. The hall took an immediate right with the corridor taking a left about ten feet ahead. She walked down, turning right and stopped. A dark shadow had slowly disappeared into the plastered wall, leaving behind a black human-shaped stain. She walked forward, and saw the corridor opened up a bit and went either left or right. She reached out and touched the stain, and noticed that it almost felt like a scab. She looked down as the camera was vibrating gently on her chest. She raised it and saw that the filament was glowing a beautiful aqua blue. She declared it the prettiest blue she had ever seen. She looked around and saw that when she pointed it to the right it got a little brighter. She walked down the hall, every step making an ominous squeak on the rotting floorboard. At the end it took a left. She started down it but stopped and jumped back, startled. At first she thought it was a hand, dried, brown, and mummified. But she quickly erased that thought and searched for a better one. A tree root, that's what it was. She then saw that the filament glowed the brightest when she pointed it at the protruding root. She stepped a little closer and snapped a picture. The camera vibrated some more and made little mechanical clicks and the picture came out, strangely, undeveloped. She slipped it in her pocket and was ready to leave when curiosity got her. She reached out and her fingers lightly grazed the root. She jerked back. The texture of it was not of a root, but of old, dried skin. She inched forward and saw that the hole it was coming out of was broken a bit farther up. She raised her flashlight and peered inside. What she saw confirmed her answer. It was an arm connected to a shoulder. There was indeed a mummy in the wall. She moved away from it and decided to keep heading on down the hall. At the end, it took another left and she saw another small door. She opened it and saw ahead a small set of steps and then the passageway became to narrow for Rei to fit through. This reminded her of Miku. She had a small, frail body. She could fit through it easily. Rei closed the door and continued down the hall, taking the third left. That's when she noticed that the plaster walls had been sparsely lined with black, human-shaped stains, and above sacred ropes with diamond shaped talismans had been strung the length of the room. Was this room precious or sacred to the people that had lived here? She then saw the stained corridor made a big square. A door was on the right wall, and she felt a nipping cold breeze come from the door. "It must lead outside!" Rei thought, excited. She swung the door open and felt the rush of the cold wind and the stinging of the falling snow. She then saw that she couldn't leave from here. Double doors were at the opposite end with two hanging lanterns on either side. Tucked away in the right corner behind her was an old wooden square well. But in the middle of the little courtyard was the main attraction. Rows and rows of nameless graves, all lined with dying, flickering candles. It then hit her. This Manor of Sleep…She had been in it before. That's why it looked so familiar! "I remember now…I remember this place…!" she had seen the same grave courtyard area in her daydream at the photo shoot. Rei then saw that the Camera Obscura was reacting to the headstones in front of her. She raised the camera and snapped a photo. It to came out undeveloped. She slipped it in her pocket with the other one and quickly headed to the double doors. They were locked with an ancient, sturdy padlock with the carving of Two Mandarins on it. She let it be and went back to the door leading to the stained hallway. When she entered she froze and noticed that something had changed. She could now hear the faint, painful moaning of men. It sounded like it was coming from inside the walls. She pressed her ear against it, and the moaning did seem louder. She moved away and decided to leave through the four point well door. As she took the corridor leading to the door stabbing pain hit her back. She turned-

-and saw a man in a white ragged robe and tall white court hat, another man in white, stumble out of one of the black stains. Rei screamed and stumbled back, raising the camera and noticing that the filament was glowing red. She snapped a photo, and the man back away. Rei kept the camera pressed against her eye as the man bolted upright-

-and headed back into the wall. She looked around and heard the moaning again, louder and more persistent. She backed against the wall and saw the man in white appear from the wall and stumble forward, his cataract eyes darting all around in his eye sockets. She took another photo, and he seemed to howl in pain. He then reached forward and swiped at Rei, but she ducked, taking the final picture. He slowly dissipated, whispering almost sadly,

"The secret…dies with me…"

In the spirits place was a stone. She bent down and picked it up. Carved in relief into a lithograph stone the size of the palm of her hand is a horizontal line, like the Japanese character for one. There is a raised bump on the back of the stone. "Maybe to fit it into something…" Rei thought. Under the bump was the word "Sleeping Stone" Rei slipped it into her pocket and headed through the four point well door and back into the storage room of the staircase hallway. Rei moved forward and back up the steps. The only place she hadn't checked in this area was the third floor. She moved down the hall and turned to go up the staircase. She went up slowly, staying close to the wall to avoid any rotten steps. At the top was another storage type room, with a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. The back of the room was covered in dusty boxes and shelves lined with dolls and other trinkets. Ahead was a broken table and several worn and faded kimonos. In the corner was a medium sized door with some kind of mechanism on it. She moved forward and knelt down. It was designed in a square, with two Sleeping Stones already in place, one with the character for two and the other with the character for three. A minute script is under the puzzle.

Engrave in the pedestal the same number of pains as are engraved on the Sleeping Stone.

Rei fished out the other stone and inserted it into the mechanism. It came to life, the stones moving into different places. Finally, they stopped, forming a line, and the door swung open. Rei was again hit in the face by cold wind and snow. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her. A small wooden railing was the only thing that separated her and the three-story drop down. Rei held her head and swallowed, trying not to think of the dizzying height. She saw she was above the grave courtyard, and it was much colder up here. Across from her was another door. She couldn't see anyway to get to it, except… "If I were to move across the roof…" Rei hated the idea, but decided that there was no other way of getting to the other side. She took a step and tried to find footing between the pale green tiles. The snow falling didn't help any. She then took another step, and then another. Finally she took the left. "Only a few more feet…" She thought. She took another step-

-and felt her footing slip away and the tiles break. She landed hard on her hip, and immediately began sliding toward her death. She flung the camera and flashlight toward the wooden plank that was her destination and extended her fingers to grab the edge of the roof. She was hanging, only her fingers stopping her from falling. She shimmied to the left, the snow making it wet and harder to grasp the roof. One hand slipped away, and finally she made it to the other side. She pulled up, using her other elbow as leverage. Once there she stopped for a second and breathed, realizing how close death had just nipped at her heels. She checked the camera and flashlight for damage, and was happy to see them both still working properly. She opened the door and saw that she was in an empty attic room. A broken door was lying in the corner, and it was exceptionally dark, with no windows or anything. The black wood walls made the room seem even darker. She took a step forward, and had concluded that the room was thoroughly empty when something smacked her face. She stopped, waving madly in front of herself. She felt her finger break a string and heard the muted ting of something hit the floor. She looked with her flashlight and saw another skeleton key, this one broader and older looking. She picked it up and saw the carving of Two Mandarins on the handle. "The key for the double doors below!" She thought. She tucked it away and headed back outside. She then heard the sound again. She had heard every time before falling asleep, and heard it again now. The repeated sound the metal hammer hitting a metal stake. A sort of chiseling sound.

_**DING!…DING!…DING!…**_

Rei looked below-

-and felt her heart skip. She saw a man's figure walking toward the double doors. She recognized it instantly. "Hey Yuu!" She called out. Not fearing for her safety she hurried across the roof and made it back to the other side. She flung open the door and headed down the steps. "Where was that again…" She thought frantically. Stained hallway. She did a 180 turn and headed down the hall, down the steps into the store room, and through the four point well key. She went left, and on the left wall was the door. She hurried through it, not caring about the snow stinging her face. She ran across the courtyard, almost hitting the double doors. She felt numbly into her pocket, finally pulling out the key. It didn't occur to her that Yuu had just walked through the door. To her that didn't matter. She unlocked the door and rushed inside. Ahead was an extremely long hallway, candles lining the walls on both sides, making shadows dance eerily on the wooden walls. She was in another foyer like area, with junk and partition screens on both sides of the area and pale moonlight coming through the lattice windows. "Where is he?" She thought. As though on cue she looked ahead and saw him down the hall, opening a door. "Yuu!!" She screamed, and then felt her body go light. She was floating, and then felt herself lying on her bed.

She flung her eyes open and sat up. "W-what was that… That place was the same…the courtyard…Why is Yuu there? Why do I dream of that place?" Rei thought, and then again she felt the stabbing pain on her shoulder. She grimaced, and clutched the sheets, squeezing them as though to try and stop the pain. She saw the tattoo again, and it spread a bit further than before, and then disappeared. Rei heard the phone ringing, and just wanted it to stop, to sit in her room all day. But she didn't, and she got up. She stopped at her door as she heard sobbing. It was low and quiet, but definitely detectable. She looked around, and then focused her eyes on the closet. "There…it's coming from there…" She inched forward and reached out, clutching the handle. She reared up and pulled-

-to see nothing there. The sobbing stopped. "What the…?" She closed the door and tried to erase the sound of sobbing in her mind. That's when she noticed two undeveloped photos sitting by the Camera Obscura. She snatched them up and left her room, heading downstairs. She picked up the receiver. "Hello, Kurosawa speaking."

"Rei, it's Miku. Good morning." Rei smiled.

"Good morning Miku. Where are you?"

"I'm at the editorial building. I gathered all the information I could from an editor about Yoshino, and I wanted you to see it. It's on my desk in my room, so go check it out if you like. I'm starting to get a little worried about all this."

"All right, when will you be home Miku?"

"There's still some stuff I need to check out here, I'll be back when I'm done."

"Okay, thank you Miku, good-bye." Rei set the phone down, and decided to go develop the photos before seeing the information that Miku had collected. She went into the hallway and walked past the bathroom and Yuu's altar room. Rei stopped and looked inside. "I could have sworn I saw someone standing in there…" Rei shook her head and continued down the hall into the developing room. Here she placed the photos in the chemical and waited as the images appeared. The first one done was of the human-stained hallway. The next was of the tombstones in the grave courtyard. She picked them up with the tongs and shook them off, placing them in an envelope. She carried them with her out of the room and down the hall back into the living room. On her way up the stairs she noticed that her baby Sakura tree was wilting. "Miku should get it later." Rei thought. At the top, she hesitated. She didn't like going in there while Miku was away. Rei built the nerve and opened the door, immediately noticing the difference. The room was bright and spacious, don't in colors of red and orange. There was a Japanese tapestry on the wall above her bed, and opposite the bed was a small coffee table with different things Miku had brought from her place. One was a beautiful orange lamp. It was square in design, and Miku had made the shade and everything. A cloth was draped on the table and other things such as incense and a novel were scattered about. At the far end of the room was Miku's desk, neatly arranged. A doll wearing a fiery kimono was beside the desk, its short black hair braided neatly. The window curtains above the desk were open, letting in as much light as possible. It was raining again, and Miku could see the deserted playground of the school about twenty yards away. Rei picked up some of the articles and began reading them. Miku wrote the first one:

Yoshino Takigawa (26)

Only survivor of the August plane crash. Following comment is from reporter Ozawa: Ms. Takigawa was thrown from the aircraft and was only mildly touched by the fire. The plane apparently blew an engine and the whole left side of the plane exploded. Also, the arbor where she was thrown acted as a cushion, which miraculously saved her. Her injuries were mild burns, bruises, and scrapes. But as it took 4 days to find her, she was very dehydrated, weak, and distressed. She also seemed to be suffering mentally since during those 4 days she was surrounded by other victims, her relatives, and her lovers burnt and rotting corpse. After being hospitalized long term, I heard she was extremely frightened of being alone or sleeping. She apparently had frightening dreams and would even cut and hurt herself to stay awake. But over time the amount of sleep grew longer. At first it was thought that the excess sleep was due to extreme psychological trauma she experienced. It grew so bad that she would sleep for 3 days straight. When she was awake she would complain of hallucinations, saying "Pain" or "There are bruises all over my body". As her hallucinations grew worse, she became less responsive to the outside world and would mutter deliriously or sing lullabies. The past several days she hasn't woken. The rest is as you saw, Rei. There is a rumor of patients like Yoshino, called "Lost Patients."

Rei set the notes down, and a newspaper article slipped from them. She picked it up and read:

"**Patient Disappears"**

On the night of the 9th a patient disappeared from her ward in Katsuragi Hospital. The missing person is sole survivor of the plane wreck in August, Yoshino Takigawa. Takigawa became mentally unstable after the accident and was diagnosed with PostTraumatic Stress Disorder. The hospital's only response is "We are investigating the details". All that has been found so far is soot in Takigawa's bed.

Rei set the article down. So, that was Yoshino's story. Rei felt a knot of sadness in her stomach for the woman, and then fear for herself. "Am I going to end up like her?" Rei was ready to leave when she saw a photo lying face down on the desk. She didn't want to, but Rei leaned over and picked the photo up. It was of Miku, wearing a white blouse and black skirt with a black choker necklace, and a gold clip fastening the top of the blouse with a reddish shirt underneath, her hair up in a half bun. Her arm was looped around a kind looking mans waist. He was wearing an open white jacket and a black shirt underneath with a matching black choker. His black hair grazed his ears. They were both smiling broadly. Rei saw a sparkle in Miku's eyes that she had never seen. Her smile was brighter and Rei realized Miku had always been cheerful enough, but she had never seen Miku look quite that happy and contented. "The man was a boyfriend, maybe? No they look alike somehow… A brother? I heard she had lost a family member, could that man be him…?" Rei set the photo back down, and wondered if Miku was keeping any secrets from her…

The rain had let up only a little, and Rei was lying on her bed. It was dusk; the sky a deep hue of violet. After a short dinner, Rei had given Miku the pictures she had gotten from the Camera Obscura and Miku had said she would investigate them for her. She lay thinking about the past couple of nights. She was thoroughly exhausted from the nightmares she had been having lately. She had already called off two assignments and still wasn't ready to take on another one. And then Miku… Really her only friend at the moment, and Rei was beginning to wonder if maybe she hadn't said all she knew about her past. Before she knew it, her eyes were slowly closing, and sleep was quickly overcoming her…


	4. Hour 3: The Subduing Song

Hour 3

The Subduing Song

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_An altar in a room covered in something red on the wall, all over. _**DING! **_Three girls in an open area, surrounding something, a cage nearby. _**DING! **_Peering through a hole in the wall, a woman with her backed turn, her long hair flowing. _**DING! **_Long hallway, a door at the end that slowly creaks open. _**DING!**_

Rei opened her eyes. She was lying in the other foyer again, the small candles at eye level. She heard a soft song being sung. She sat up from lying on her side-

-and saw Yuu walking down the hall. "Yuu!" Rei called out. She stood up, snatching the camera and flashlight and heads down the hall, tripping on a loose wooden partition screen. At the end the hall continued forward with a door, then to the left with a door about five feet away, and then to the right with a door on the right wall about twelve feet away, and then the tiny hall going back the way she came. The hall was sectioned into four parts with tiny water candles lighting the area dimly, casting dancing shadows. Above her were hung cultural lanterns strung sparsely about the hall. None of them worked. She did a quick eenie meenie miny moe and ended up going to the door to the left. She opened it up and the first thing she noticed was an old projector in the middle of the room. Out from that was a yellowed, tattered screen to project the images on. She stepped up to it and noticed that an old film reel was still inside. It was labeled "Impalement". She flipped the switch, and surprisingly enough the projector came to life. Rei saw as the images, displayed like an old black and white movie, jumped across the screen. They showed the four girls from Rei's daydream hammering furiously, and powerfully for their size. It showed one of them hammering something onto a wall, then all four of them surrounding something, hammering it as well. As soon as it started, the video was over. "So, someone recorded what those girls did…" Rei thought. She checked the screen and saw the behind it was an alcove lit with a candle and a bookshelf made into the back wall. The books lining the shelves have all been rotted by mold and look like they would fall to pieces if anyone would pick them up. Many of the spines can't be read, but a lot of them seem to be on Shinto Rituals. Among the tattered old books on the shelf is one with a spine that looks new than the others. It was labeled Folklore Notes 1:

**While continuing my research I stumbled upon the existence of the shrine that is perhaps the origin of the "Sleeping Priestess". The shrine is very small and hidden away within the depths of a mountain. It appeared just as in the drawing. There are normally no worshippers and according to stories from the small village nearby, it is a shrine where you could "offer up your pain". When I called upon the head of the family, she said they allow visitors until the snow melts. They carry out a Rite here to protect a sacred area in the mountain. Men****are not allowed in the Rite, but it seems that every few years they invite men in order to continue the bloodline. They call them "outsiders". I think I've heard of a similar custom. The guests who come in winter while the snow falls all hide their faces and pull large bundles on wagons. It resembles a funeral procession. The Rite carried out on their behalf must be connected to the story of the "Sleeping Priestess".**

Rei set the notebook down, and tried to process the confusing information. "What on earth could this Rite be?" She exited the tiny alcove and saw a little work area covered by a small cloth. On top was a cartridge of Type-14 film. She added it with her other film, giving her twenty shots in all. Suddenly, old film reels tumbled from above, and Rei heard the innocent laughter of a little girl. She looked up-

-and caught a glimpse of a little girl in white before she disappeared. Rei backed out of the little area and then decided to try the door behind the projector and beside the door she had come through. Ahead was a wide, empty hall with a candle here or there dimly lighting the hall, and a piece of the right wall was lattice. She walked down past the lattice, cautiously taking each step as the hall got darker. At the end was a door with several scratches in it. She opened it, and again felt a cold breeze. This opened into a hall with another midget sized door to her left and a courtyard at the end of the corridor. She checked the door to find it sealed. At the end she stopped and gazed at the little garden. It was so familiar. She had definitely been there… Then it hit her. It was from the daydream. That's where she had seen this. In the middle of the garden was a large, naked withered tree with a rope festooned with white paper charms wrapped around the trunk of the tree. Tied to the rope is a wooden memorial tablet made of wax and straw in the shape of a person. Filling in the rest of the garden were many skewered dolls wearing faded red kimonos stuck on steel poles. They gave the only color to the garden. From where she was standing the little garden went in a square, with doors on either the left or right walls, and a hallway ahead past the garden. Rei then saw a little girl walking down the hall ahead, and she then heard the soft singing again. Rei walked around the garden, stopping halfway. Tied to one of the skewered dolls was a glowing purple stone. She reached out and grabbed it, pulling it off. A little inscription was carved onto the stone.

**A powerful spirit dwells within. It gives its possessor another chance at life.**

Rei pocketed the warm stone and continued to follow the little girl. At the end of the hall it turned right, and ahead was a blue-ish colored door and down on the right wall was another midget door, this time an old doll was impaled upon the old red wood. Rei knelt down and pressed her ear against the door to hear as much of the singing she could. It sounded like children singing:

"_Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace. If you cry the boat you ride will rock you to the other side…" _

The rest was inaudible and it was being sung in a strange dialect, and accompanying the singing was the repeated hammering. Rei tired to open the door, and noticed that it was tightly sealed. She pulled off the doll and tried the door again. It opened. "So, the doll was a talisman." She thought. She crouched down and entered the room. The room had a warm feeling, and covering all four walls was a red like cloth. "It looks like dolls dressed in red…" Rei thought. She moved in closer, squinting her eyes. Now that she saw it wasn't cloth at all, but countless numbers of straw dolls dressed in red kimonos have been nailed to the walls with wooden stakes. Against the wall was an altar with a small shrine in back. On the altar were several incense burners and circular candleholders. In front of the shrine candle lit shrine is a huge gemstone about the size of Rei's fist. It looks like it might have been used in some sort of ceremony. Rei moved her flashlight up and saw something reflecting the flashlight. She reached and pulled it down. It was a circular shaped skeleton key with a Bellflower design on the end. She slipped it in her pocket and decided to leave the doll room. She knelt down to open the door-

-and felt stabbing cold waves hit her back. She turned and saw a girl dressed as a shrine maiden standing in the middle of the room, holding a stake in one hand and a hammer in the other. "Are you-" But Rei didn't finish her sentence as the girl flew forward, raising the hammer and stake. Rei leaped sideways as the girl pounded the stake, the familiar _**DING! **_filling her ears. She raised the camera and saw the filament glowing red. She waited as the girl came into view, and snapped a photo. The shrine maiden receded, screaming in fury. Rei kept the camera raised as the girl appeared to her left. She raised the hammer again, and Rei stood her ground. The girl came closer, and closer, and was bringing the hammer down when Rei snapped a shot. The effect seemed to double as she got the 'Fatal Frame' and the girl flew back once more. Rei was ready for the last shot as the shrine maiden reared up again, but as she closed in she disappeared, and Rei heard her whisper tauntingly,

"Does it hurt…?"-

-and then felt extreme pain in her feet. She looked down and saw the girl pounded the stake into her foot. Rei struggled, and finally got the girl in the viewfinder and took the final shot. The shrine maiden disappeared, and Rei bent down and touched her foot. It was whelped, and a trickle of blood was running between her toes. She pulled out the bronze bottle of herbal medicine she had and swallowed several of the pills, hoping they would stop the pain. Rei was ready to leave again when she saw a gray diary where the shrine maiden was. She bent down and picked it up, reading the childs writing:

I wonder if being impaled hurts? I wonder which hurts worse, having the stake go in a little bit at a time, or having it stabbed through all at once? I wonder if they die if the stake goes through all the way? I wonder if it matters if they die? I want to impale a REAL priestess soon…

Rei dropped the diary as the singing filled her ears again, and then it was followed by the louder hammering sound. She covered her ears and dropped the flashlight. "God make it stop!" She yelled out. Again she felt light, and was not in the doll room any more, but she was lying in her bedroom. Light hit her eyes and she sat up, breathing hard. She felt the pain again, worse than ever. It stabbed her like knives, and she saw the tattoo spreading again, going a little further than before. Rei squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the pain to end, which seemed like an eternity. After a few seconds though, it passed. "Every time I dream of that house, that snake-like tattoo gets bigger. The pain is worse every day. If things carry on like this it will eventually cover my whole body. And then… The dreams, the manor… What do they mean? How can I escape…? And that doll room. That little shrine maiden was one of the ones that tried to impale me in my daydream. Who is she? And what was she doing in there?" Rei thought as the events of the nightmare hit her. She stood up, quickly removing her nightgown and putting on a plain white T-shirt and sweat pants. She opened her bedroom door and looked over the balcony. Miku was standing at the patio glass door, staring as though in a daze. Rei walked over and headed down the steps. She then heard Miku singing. She was singing a song that made Rei's heart sink,

"Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…"

Rei stepped closer, placing a hand on Miku's shoulder. "That song…" Miku turned to face Rei. "Oh Rei, good morning. That song?"

"Yeah, where did you hear it?" Miku looked down at her feet.

"I…don't remember exactly where I heard it, but…I feel like I've been hearing it in my dreams lately. I have no idea what the lyrics mean. Could it be some sort of dialect?" Rei shrugged and thought to herself…

"Dreams… That song Miku was singing, it was the same as the lullaby I heard in the Manor of Sleep. Is she having the same dreams as me? She lost a relative, is that who she sees in the manor?"

"Oh Rei, a letter came today. It's at the front door in the mail holder." Miku said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Rei smiled and headed to the door next to the kitchen. She opened it and saw the brown envelope sticking out of the holder near the mail slot in the door. She walked over and picked it up. It was addressed to Yuu from Kei Amakura. She opened it:

Dear Yuu,

I'm sending you a testimony tape I just found about the urban legend. I know you'll take good care of it. I found some other tapes but they're quite old and damaged. I'm getting them restored and will send them once they're done. Lately, I've solely been researching folklore and legends. That was your and Mafuyu's field, wasn't it? It's an interesting world, bit I don't want to get too deep into it. How is Mafuyu's sister? Her name is Miku right? I've been searching everywhere I can but I still donw know about Junsei Takamine's whereabouts. Maybe he was spirited away after going to that mansion in the Himuro region? If you've got anything on that let me know. Mio's health is not good so I put her in the hospital. She only wakes once every day, and then for only several hours at a time. I've got to hurry with my research.

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei saw a photo attached to the letter. It was of a young girl, around the age of fifteen, gazing away from the camera. Her brown eyes were sparkling, and her short black hair was swaying in the breeze. On the back in Kei's handwriting was Mio Amakura. "So, this girl is Mio…" At the bottom of the envelope was a red tape with a label on it that read:

Manor of Sleep Recordings: Case A

"So, Mafuyu was the one in that photo in Miku's room and a friend of Kei and Yuu. It says he disappeared on the trail of novelist Junsei Takamine. Is Mafuyu the one Miku sees in the manor? Is she still longing for the brother she lost?" Rei decided that she was going to ask Miku about it once night fell.

Rei slipped on another nightgown, this one another shade of blue. After lazing around the house a bit Miku had made dinner and they had ate in silence. Rei had trudged up to her room and was changing into her night cloths, wondering if she should ask Miku about Mafuyu, her brother. "I need to know…" She thought, and headed out of her room and toward Miku's. She took a short breath and knocked on the door. "Come in!" came Miku's voice. Rei opened the door, and saw Miku setting in her bed in a pink pajama tank top and matching bottoms reading the novel that Rei had seen on her coffee table. "Hey Miku." Rei said, smiling faintly. "Hello…Rei, what's the matter?" Rei looked into Miku's querying eyes and she pointed to the photo of Miku and Mafuyu. "Miku, that person in the picture on your desk-" Miku cut her off.

"That's…my older brother…He's been missing for quite some time now." Rei could hear the pain in Miku's voice as she closed her eyes and no doubt thought of her brother. "Bad idea…" Rei thought. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for bringing it up…I was just wondering…" Miku sighed. "It's okay. Good night Rei." Miku closed her book and lay down on her bed, facing away from Rei. "Good…night…" Rei whispered, and headed out of Miku's room. Rei headed back into her room, feeling terrible. "I know how I feel when I'm asked about Yuu, I don't know why I asked her about her brother…" Rei thought. She snatched up the tape Kei had sent and placed it into her tape deck and pressed play. An average sounding woman with a middle-aged voice filled the room:

"_In my dream I saw…my mother…in that manor. Inside was an old shrine. It was cold…snow was falling… I could hear a song, a lullaby I think. There was so many people going into the shrine. It was like a funeral… I could smell incense burning. Everyone was hiding his or her faces. My mother was among them… No matter how many times I called her name she kept going further and further. And just before the door shuts, I feel like I'm going to be all alone. I saw it, every day. I went in just a little. If I went in any further, I couldn't go back. But I thought I could meet my mother in there…"_

The tape ended, and Rei took it out. So, she wasn't the only one. She flipped off her light switch and decided that although she didn't want to sleep, maybe it was the only way to help find an end to her terrible nightmares.

Miku squeezed her eyes closed. The sound of the rain outside was comforting. What had brought Rei to ask about Mafuyu? Miku wiped the tear sliding down her cheek. She tried to clear her mind before going to sleep, hoping this didn't affect her dreams.


	5. Hour 4: The Evil Dream

Hour 4

The Evil Dream

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Girls hammering furiously, the tattooed woman's terrifying face. _**DING! **_The shrine maidens surrounding something, pounding on the stakes. _**DING! **_The Manor of Sleep, sitting ominously in the falling snow. _**DING!**_

Dust swirled around Miku's frail body, clinging to her limp and unconscious form. Her hazel eyes fluttered open, and she looked around in confusion.

"Where am I…?" She said quietly. Miku sat up slowly from where she lay on the old, wooden floor. It groaned in protest, seemingly louder in the quiet as death corridor. Her dark brown hair still sat in its bun, still in her usual hairpin. Her outfit was covered in light dust – a reddish-black shirt under a white blouse, a black leather skirt with her black knee high boots and a gold choker necklace with a golden clip pinning the blouse closed at the top. "What am I wearing? I thought I got rid of this outfit years ago…" It was the outfit she had been wearing the night she went to Himuro Mansion looking for Mafuyu.

She looked around as she stood up. "Where am I…" she murmured lightly again. She did a quick 180 turn and felt the bridge of her nose hit something. Her eyes widened and she jumped back, nearly falling to the floor. It was a rope. A rope hanging from the ceiling beam. She looked around the hallway in fear, her eyes growing wider and her breath quicker every second. Ropes were hanging from every support beam in the hallway she stood in. "No…it can't be…" she muttered as she walked slowly through the middle of the hallway. Her eyes turned forward, and she was met with her own reflection in a life-size mirror.

"No…" she murmured painfully. "Not again…" She looked down, and her breath caught in her throat. "Is this…" It was a rectangular object with a protruding lens. The Camera Obscura. It didn't resembled the one Rei had found in Yuu's room, but it looked more like the camera left by her late mother, Miyuki. She bent down and picked it up. " I don't want to remember…" Miku thought sadly. "Mafuyu…" she whispered, as tears sprang to her eyes. She put a hand to her face and cried softly to herself.

"_Miku…"_ a voice called. She only sobbed more.

"_Miku…" _the voice called again, softer now. Gentle hands came to her shoulders. _"Miku!" _the male voice called.

Miku's head snapped up. "Mafuyu?" she asked, looking up into the mirror. Her eyes widened tremendously at the sight she saw. It was a woman, with long dark hair hiding the eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a white kimono, pure white. Ropes were around her neck, wrists, and ankles. Kirie's hands now rested on Miku's shoulders, and the woman lifted her head enough so one eye locked on the girl in the mirror.

"_..You're mine…"_

Miku screamed and fell back, snapping a picture in reflex. She looked up and saw nothing there. "Why… What's happening?" Miku thought as she got up, recovering from the fright of the little incident. She picked up the camera and tried the door in the right alcove, knowing it lead to the fireplace room. It was locked, many talismans stuck to the door. Across from that and the large mirror was another door that lead to the Great Hall, and Miku wondered how she had kept the information of the mansion in her head. She tried the handle, and it opened with a loud creak. She stepped inside, and was almost nailed in the face by a lighted object swinging from a lock of wet, matted hair on the ceiling. She reached up and pulled it off, seeing that it was a jet black flashlight. She wiped away the raunchy hair and was glad to have the light from the flashlight. Then she wondered, "How is this happening? I thought my power was gone…?" After the incident at Himuro Mansion two years previous, she had never seen another spirit again, but still suffered from an occasional nightmare. She then remembered something Mafuyu had told her that their mother had said right before she committed suicide.

"_Mom told me that after giving the camera to us, she didn't see anything unnatural anymore. But she finally realized that it never left, but only buried itself into her heart, and she only thought she had lost it…"_

It then occurred to Miku, she never lost her sixth sense, but after Rei brought Mafuyu up to her, it stirred long forgotten memories. "Which is also the reason for the dreadful nightmare…" She thought. She had gone four solid weeks without dreaming of Himuro, but it seemed that was only short lived. She walked past the lattice-type wall and walked down the room. It was set up of three mini rooms, all that looked alike with the same type of Japanese sliding doors for each one. At the end was the little shrine built by Lord Himuro nailed to the wall, and a door underneath it. She pulled on the door, and noticed that a locking mechanism was on it that wasn't there two years before, It was rectangular, with several pentagonal stones set into the mechanism, each one with either the Japanese character for one, or the Japanese character for two, and three. A slot was empty though, and underneath it was an inscription. All she could make out was "find the last Sleeping Stone." She turned from the door and decided the she should go back to the rope hallway and see if she could leave the mansion via the front double doors. She walked down the Great Hall, clutching the camera and flashlight tight. Then something she had been dreading happened. The filament began to glow red, and she heard an evil whisper behind her.

"You cannot escape me!"

She turned with the camera raised and saw a man with his face completely covered and a raised bloody cleaver coming toward her. She quickly snapped a photo, glad that there was film in it. He repelled, lowering his weapon. The film reloaded a shot, and Miku hit the shutter button. But the ghost seemed to reflect the shot, raising his cleaver to shield the flash of the camera. She backed up as he began rushing toward her again. She squeezed her eyes closed and repeatedly began hitting the shutter button, hearing the dry click as the film loaded. "Oh God please hurry up hurry UP!" She thought. She felt stabbing cold pain hit her face, and opened her eyes in time to see a bright flash and the ghost repel again. She let out her breath in a whoosh and moved to a corner of the room while another shot loaded.

"More blood!"

The spirit screamed, and raised his cleaver up with two hands. Miku concentrated again, wishing that the shot would hurry up and load. She opened her eyes a little to see the ghost concentrating energy. "He must be getting ready to do some major attack…" She thought. Before he could finish his attack, Miku pulled of the final shot. The ghost screamed in fury.

"More sacrifices! We need more!"

He slowly disappeared. A shining white item appeared where the apparition had stood. Miku walked over and picked it up. It was cool to the touch, and seemed to radiate a little bit of light. Miku let out a tiny gasp as she realized what it was. It was the Mask of Reflection. It was a powerful mask that Lord Himuro wore during the Strangling Ritual. She remembered the door that the mask hung on in the foyer of the mansion. She clutched it under her arm and left the Great Hall, entering the Rope Hallway. She walked down the hall, looking up at the ropes going by overhead. It brought back the terrifying memories of the four days she had been trapped in the mansion, looking for her brother. She tried not to think about it, wanting to keep a clear head until she could find a way to leave the mansion again. She opened the door at the end of the corridor, and memories again washed over her. It looked exactly the same. With the large hole toward the front of the doors, the scattered partition screens in the back of the room. A door was across her, and it had the Japanese sanskrit for the word "angry". The Camera Obscura began vibrating again, and for a second she thought that the spirit of the man with no face had followed her. She walked over to her right and stepped past the large hole, shivering as a cold breeze ran up her leg, which reminded her of the outfit she was wearing. She walked over to the front double doors and pulled. It barely moved, only shifting the settled dust on it. She saw that the filament of the camera glowed blue the brightest here, and she snapped a photo, and saw in the developed photo not the door but a different place. It looked like a large pedestal in the middle of the room. She remembered what that meant. "I have to go to that place and take a picture or find something there and the door will unlock…" She walked back up into the main area of the foyer and examined the door with the sanskrit on it. It had metal hooks for hanging something, and she set the Mask of Reflection on it. It's expression turned angry, and she heard the door unlock. She opened it, and was hit with the terrible stench of dead fish and stagnated water. "Oh no…" Miku groaned. It was on of the rooms that she had despised the most. The Fishtank Room. Although this wasn't the where the room was located in the mansion before, Miku still hated it. It still looked the same. The mildewed, tattered cloths hanging from the ceiling, the boards scattered across the room to make sort of make-shift bridges so you could navigate the room with taking a dip in the slimy green water. She took a step on the first conveniently placed board that connected the stone pathways, and it groaned. She shivered as she remembered falling into the skanky water two years before. It groaned louder under her weight, but she made it across easily. She made it across the second one, and then the third, and was finally at the end of the room. A lattice window was high on the wall, and she saw large snow flakes falling against the moonlight. It was quite a pretty scene. Miku marveled at it a second longer before examining the door. It was the same, a puzzle lock the shape of a pentagram locking the door. It had five carvings on each point of the star, and each one had a Japanese character on it. It was the Himuro family seal. One of the carvings was missing. Miku set the camera and flashlight down and raised her leg, giving a solid kick to the lock. Her small body didn't produce much power, and the door only made a tiny creak. She kicked again, and the lock cracked. She took the end of the flashlight and gave one more swift hit and the lock broke away and the door creaked open. Miku sucked in her breath as she gazed at the sight before her. It was a containment area with wooden bars all around the room. Only a small path had been left to walk around the cage. It was the area that Kirie had to stay for ten years. Candles glowed brightly to her left, two on either side of another floor to wall mirror. Miku stepped up to the caged off area, and for a second thought she saw little Kirie again. She blinked, and felt drawn to go inside. She opened the tiny door, made to look like the rest of the wooden lattice. As she stepped inside a depressing feeling came over her. It was cold and a snowflake would lazily blow in the room through the wooden bars. "The only connection to the outside world…" Miku thought. The bookcase by the shackles under the winder was warped and the moisture from the window had ruined all the books. A diary with the sketch of a rope was lying on the pillow sewn to the floor. She reached down and picked it up. It was one of Kirie's diaries:

Snow is falling. It's a quiet night. This could be the last snow of the ten years of changing season I have watched from this little window. As I watch the snow I get a feeling that something has passed. Finally, I have severed all of my attachments. (Miku sees several tear stains at this point on the yellowed page) I'll give my body over to the ropes to seal the Gate.

Kirie Himuro

Miku set the diary down, and again felt overwhelming sadness for the cursed Rope Shrine Maiden. She left the prison and headed over to the door across from the one she had entered from, eyeing the large mirror as she passed it. These doors had seemed to change. They were large stone double doors, with a painting of a rope on it. Miku pushed, and the scraping sound of stone on stone filled her ears. She stopped once the doors were open, staring in disbelief. It was the Rope Altar room. The large pedestal where the Strangling Ritual took place was in the middle of the room, the five large turntables wound with rope on each side of the circular altar. Miku took a numb step around the device, gazing at the blood and gore still stained on the altar.

_CRREEAAAK!_

One of the turntables begin turning, and Miku closes her eyes. She sees Kirie again, the priests tugging the ropes tight and tighter on her limps, bringing blood. Kirie shrieked in a howl of pain before her limps popped from socket and stretched.

"Stop…" Miku opened her eyes, her breathing quick. "Oh…my…" Her eyes were locked to the altar. "No, no… This cant be…" She saw black hair draped over the altar. She saw the figure of Kirie under a tattered and stained gray cloth, the outline of the limbs impossibly long. "It's just my mind…has to be…" She stepped closer, wanting to make sure. She grasped the cloth, the texture damp and spongy. She held back the urge to vomit and squeezed her eyes closed, then pulled the cloth-

-and nothing was there. Only the dried blood stains and several pieces of rotted flesh. Miku choked up, covering her mouth with her hand. She blinked her eyes and sighed. "Only my imagi-" But the thought was stopped short as a hand appeared from the other side of the pedestal. Miku jumped back as the rope tied limb pulled up, the stretched arm pulling a head of black hair into view. Miku's breathing quickened, and she felt ready to faint. She saw the rope she was dragging around her neck, and the ghost lifted her head until a little part of the white face was visible.

"_Now you'll know my pain…"_

Kirie spoke in her low, deadly voice. The ghost rose up, exposing her stretched limbs. The sacred ropes dragged against the ground as Kirie hovered slowly toward Miku. She raised the camera and began hitting the shutter button repeatedly, the camera seemingly having no effect against the evil Rope Maiden. Miku opened her eyes and saw that she was the only person in the chamber. Kirie had only been her imagination. She sighed, feeling completely drained. She walked over to the door opposite the one she came from. It led toward the Last Passage, the area where the Hell Gate was…and where she last saw Mafuyu. "I don't want to go in any further…" She thought, and one word slipped past her lips.

"..Mafuyu…"

She closed her eyes and decided to try the front doors again. She left the Rope Altar Room and hurried quickly through the prison area and Fishtank room. "I just need to leave and this nightmare will be over…" She thought hurrying down the couple of steps to the front.

"Big brother is over here…"

She heard a whisper behind her. She turned and saw a little girl dressed as a shrine maiden standing with her arm outstretched, pointing toward the door leading to the Rope Hallway. In her other hand was a hammer. Miku stood stunned for a second. "W-what…?" Miku turned from her escape and went to where the girl had pointed. Miku stood in the middle of the hall. "Hello? Where are you?" She called out, her small voice echoing off the old wooden walls.

"Over here…"

She looked toward the mirror and saw the little girl walking toward the door leading to what should be the fireplace room. Miku followed her, opening the once sealed door. Well, it didn't lead to the fireplace room, but it also didn't lead to any other area of Himuro Mansion. It took a sharp left and then a hallway of about five feet then it split and went in two directions, left and right.

"He's over here…"

The little girl appeared again, going to the right. Miku jogged toward her and took the right, going through the door. This new area had cloth pinned up in a square in the middle of the room, making it impossible to see anywhere. A staircase was to her left and there was couple of steps leading down to another door beside the staircase. She saw the little girl standing by the door. Miku followed her, growing more frightened as each second passed. She opened the door and noticed how much darker it suddenly got. A shrine with two mirrors on each side was at the far end of the room made into the lattice. A cage was hanging way over head, and Miku saw the little girl standing up there.

"Save the two…"

The little girl whispered, and Miku's vision went black……

Rei jumped sat up straight, looking around. "That was…Miku's dream… But why?" Rei through her legs over her bed and recalled the rather frightening dream. "The house in Miku's dream is different than the one I've been seeing… The corridor hung with ropes… The blood stained rope altar…the woman torn apart… This has to be in Miku's memory. Is that place connected to the memories of her brother…?" Rei walked over to her door, stepped out, and looked over the balcony. She didn't see Miku. "Humm, she is usually awake by now. Maybe she is still in her room…" Rei walked across the hall to her door and knocked. "Miku, can I come in?" Rei called out.

"Y-yes Rei…" She heard Miku say quietly. Rei opened the door and stepped inside Miku's room. The curtains had yet to been drawn and it made her room look different. "Rei, sorry I'm so late getting up. I don't feel so well. I had trouble sleeping last night."

"Oh it's okay Miku. Don't worry." Rei said and gave her a smile.

"I was looking through some of my brothers things and found this photo." Miku handed a photo of a rather handsome young man with his hand balled into a fist, resting his head on it and looking intently into a book in front of him. He had short dark hair and mysterious dark eyes. "It's of Kei Amakura, he must've sent it to Mafuyu a while ago. Which reminds me a letter came today from Kei, I laid it on the kitchen counter." Rei nodded and thanked Miku. "I'll only be a few more minutes, then I'll be up." Miku said, and with that Rei left Miku alone. She headed down the stairs clutching the photo of Kei and picked up the brown envelope from Kei. She tore it open and read it:

Dear Yuu,

Have you listened to the three tapes I sent before? I'd like you to listen to them before you read the rest. Maybe you wont believe it, but I've had the Manor of Sleep dream. First I thought I was just thinking about the manor too much, but after listening to those tapes and to Mio, I'm showing the same symptoms. In the dream I'm in a snowy manor. I don't remember well, but it resembles the house I got the Camera Obscura from. I get a bad sense. The only difference is, I was pursuing Mio in the manor, and she isn't dead. If the urban legend of the Manor of Sleep is true, then maybe if I can wake Mio from her dream, I might can save her. Even though it doesn't make much sense, I feel I'm closer to the truth…

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei set the note down. "Three other tapes? I got the first one, but where are the other two? Maybe they are in Yuu's room…" Rei thought. She trudged back up the stairs and headed down the hall toward Yuu's room. She took a quick breath and opened the door and headed toward his desk. There wasn't many things on top, only the lap top still and several hand written notes. She checked the first drawer and saw a thick brown envelope. She took it out and opened it. Inside were two tapes. One had a red label with the writing

Manor of Sleep Recordings: Case B and one with a dirty white labeled called

Testimony of Same Dream 1

Rei gathered the tapes and headed back toward her room. She took the recordings tape first and stuck it in the tape deck and pressed play. The voice was the same as in the first tape.

"_Yes, that dream. I dreamt of the manor. Yes, my name is Serizawa. It's the same manor. It's a big and…quiet manor. It was a very cold night, it was snowing, and then…the roof collapsed and the snow started coming in. Um…a song…It sounds like some sort of nursemaids song, a lullaby type song. The child kept stabbing at the doll. When I came to it always hurt. There was always pain. Here, cant you see it? Look! It's right here. It's true…it kept spreading…"_

At the end the woman seemed to go hyperventilate, and the tape ended. She took it out and placed the other one in. The voice was of a young man who sounded shaky.

"_Huh? How many times do I have to explain it? It was a manor, and it was snowing. There was blood. Many people lay collapsed all over. In the hallway…in the room…everywhere! Yes, it was a man in white clothes. But he had no face, and he had a bloody cleaver and there was blood on the walls. I always ran as hard as I could. So far…Many hands came out of the walls…But when I came to…somehow I was the one chasing the man. That woman…yesterday she touched me…it was painfully cold. And when I woke up my body was like ice…This…tattoo…_

The tape ended. The man seemed to become frightened toward the end of the tape. She took it out and sat with her hand in her palm. Her mind was jumbled with questions. But the one that stood out and was the most obvious was

"What's happening to me…?"

Kei Amakura stroked Mio's head once more. She looked so peaceful lying in the hospital bed. Her face was serene, it wasn't hard to believe she had a care in the world. But Kei knew she was fighting for her life. He lay down on the makeshift mattress that he had set up. The nurses had allowed him to stay with Mio overnight since he was her remaining family. But he knew that the doctors only thought Mio was going to die any day. "Hang in there Mio, I just need a little bit longer." He whispered.

"Together…forever…"

He heard Mio whisper quietly. She had repeated that several times already. He just wished he knew what she meant by it. Feeling the days work on his shoulders, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to slip into his frustrated mind…


	6. Hour 5: The Vanishing

Hour 5

The Vanishing

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Girls hammering furiously, the tattooed woman's terrifying face. _**DING! **_The shrine maidens surrounding something, pounding on the stakes. _**DING! **_The Manor of Sleep, sitting ominously in the falling snow. _**DING!**_

Kei felt a powerful presence before him. He knelt down in front of the partition screen in front of him and watched through the tears in the paper as the tattooed woman passed in front of the doorway. He was in a claustrophobic room, the rotted and peeling walls all around him. He stood up quietly and looked to the left, the way the woman had walked. He saw her, continuing her smooth stride down the long, dark hall, snowflakes drifting in from a hole in the ceiling. He looked to the right and saw the hall divided left and right. He stepped out and quickly headed toward the divide.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

Kei heard the soft whisper of a young girl. He looked quickly to the left and saw a glimpse of a white skirt, brown blouse, and black stockings.

"_MIO!"_

Kei called after her, chasing after her figure. He turned right-

-and saw at least a dozen crimson butterflies fluttering in front of the only door Mio could have gone through. He ran up and tugged on the door, seeing it locked with a sturdy padlock, a carving of a butterfly etched on it. "Damn, how'd she get through there…?" He pondered. He gave the door one last pull before finally heading back to the divide. He headed quickly past the hall so not to get seen by her and ran up the set of stairs. At the top ahead was a set of double doors and to his right was a dying candle in a brass holder beside a blue door in fading gold trim. He checked the double doors to see that it was only a closet then checked the other door. It was open. At first he thought he saw a woman standing at the far end of the room, then only saw it was a rumpled up kimono. The whole room was lined with kimonos hanging from wire strung throughout the room. He then heard something, and strained his ears to hear it again. It sounded like someone with broken fingers plucking useless on a Koto. A single tune would be played, then another completely off tune sound would follow a few seconds after. He followed the sound, seeing a net strung around the corner of the room on the wire. He saw through the net a purple diary lying on the Koto, but saw no one playing it. He shook the shivers away and pulled the net back and picked up the diary:

How many days has it been? How many months…how many years…? Many outsiders have been brought here. But none of them are like him. He said my hair was beautiful. But no matter how much I arrange it, he'll probably never know how I feel. All I can do is comb my hair and wait for him. That way when he comes back with his camera he'll take my picture again.

Kei set the diary down and left the netted off area. To his left against the wall was a low drawer and a sitting pillow in front of it. He walked forward slowly, his eyes adjusting a little better to the darkness. He raised his hand and placed it on the wall to lean on it-

-and jerked back in a gasp of fright. It had felt like wet dog fur, with a slimy tinge to it. He squinted harder, and saw a black object on the drawer. He picked it up and instantly recognized it as a flashlight. He turned it on and pointed it toward the thing on the wall. He bit back a gag. It was a clump of wet, oily, bloody hair hammered so hard into the wall he could see cracks in the plaster. Several other wet clumps were around it, making a sort of arch over the drawer. He looked away from the hair and down to the drawer. A mirror stand is shattered into tiny pieces on the drawer. Among the fragments is a hairpin with a symbol of several leaves and berries, which he recognizes as Holly carved on the top and it is long and thin. Kei placed it in his pocket, just in case. He turned from the drawer, moving an old green kimono out of his face, and walked to the middle of the room, which was squared off with kimonos. In front of him past the kimonos and behind a partition screen was a door. He started toward the door.

"Is somebody…here…?"

Kei turned and saw a figure by the Koto. He quickly ran around the partition screen and crouched down. The figure rose and glided away from the Koto-

-and through the net and kimonos. Kei held his breath and as gently as he could reached up and grabbed the doorknob. It was locked. He raised his head up and saw that it was locked with an old padlock. The keyhole is long, thin, and unusually shaped. Above it engraved with blue ink is a symbol of Holly. Kei pulled out the hairpin and realized that it would work as a key to unlock the door. He reached up and inserted it into the locked. After a bit of struggle, it unlocked. Kei's foot slipped and it fell outward, his foot knocking over the partition screen. He then heard the woman say in a much darker voice

"You said you would come back…!"

Kei looked up and saw the woman fly upward, do a dip then rush toward him with her arms outstretched. He jumped to the side as she went through the wall. He slipped and grabbed at a kimono, knocking down the wire and bringing the kimonos down.

"I found you!"

The woman screamed and rushed at him again. Kei saw bloody bald spot on her scalp, and saw what hair was there was long and once very beautiful. He rolled to the side as the woman charged again. He jumped to his feet and ran to the door he had unlocked. He slid it open and closed it behind him. Kei heard the woman scream

"Akito…!"

He stood breathing for a second. "This…this dream has to end…!" After regaining some of his breathing he turned and headed down a set of steps. He looked to the left and saw you could see into the kimono room. Ahead beyond the railing was a small door on the right wall and in front was a several stairs leading to white double doors. He continued down, not wanting to run in to freaky hair puller again. He headed down the steps and saw that he was in some sort of anteroom. A small door was ahead beside a hallway and on the right wall was another door. Behind the stairs were several bookcases and drawers. He looked back and saw several bundles with tiny head poking out. He panicked at first, thinking it was a child, but on closer inspection he saw it was only a doll. He crouched in front of the small door and saw it was locked with a sort of Hawaiian flower design. He couldn't place a name on it. He looked to his right and decided to check the door at the bottom of the staircase. It opened up into a dimly lit hallway lined with water candles along the walls. It branched off in four areas, where he was at now, ahead which lead to the foyer, to the left and then right. He jogged to the foyer, hoping it would lead outside. He tugged at the old wooden double doors. He saw through the lattice mini window some graves and candles. Beyond that was what appeared to be more of the manor. It didn't lead outside, not completely anyway. He turned to check out the other hallways when he heard a door open. "Someone else is…here?" He thought. "Maybe its Mio!" He ran back into the four branching hall and turned right where the sound had some from-

-and stopped abruptly. He saw the glowing blue tattoo first. Up her torso, over her breasts, up onto her face and her arms. Everywhere. It was the tattooed woman. He backed up and turned to run when she spotted him and rushed at him. She began moaning in her thick raspy voice.

"You…"

She reached out, her fingers groping-

-and he ducked, running down the hall she had just come from. He felt her stabbing coldness graze his back, and saw for a brief instant the tattoo on his body. He opened the door she had come from-

-and she disappeared, taking the coldness and pain with her. He looked into the room he had stumbled into and saw that it was a room with tatami ahead. To the lead to a staircase and underneath it on back was another storage area. At the base of the staircase was a hallway leading left. In the middle of the room was a support beam mounted with an old Grandfather clock. It ticked loudly, sending a little cloud of dust as it ticked.

"She must not realize…"

Kei looked over to where the sound of the deep, female voice had come from. He saw on the steps a woman with plenty of wrinkles on her face, giving her a frown look, long black hair, a white kimono trimmed in blue, and a tall white court hat walking up the steps. He backed against the wall as the woman continued her ascend upward. After a few moments he looked back over and saw the old woman secretively bending over a drawer on the second floor. He moved quietly over to the base of the steps, and walked sideways up them with his back pressed against the wall. At the top he looked over and saw her rummaging through something. Finally she stopped and began to move around the collection of broken drawers on the middle of the room. He moved to the right as she moved to the left across the room. Finally, he made it to the drawer the ghost had been at and the spirit had moved back down the steps. He raised up from his crouch and began sifting through the broken drawer. The other little doors were cracked and not able to be opened. The top one, however, was open. Inside is a man's blood-stained kimono and a jumbled pile of old books and writing implements. He moved the junk aside and felt something hard wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped it and saw that it was the Camera Obscura. It was almost exactly like the one he had sent to Yuu. Wrapped up with it was a notebook labeled Folklore Notes 3:

It's been nearly half a month since I entered this manor. Once the snow melts I'll be parted from Kyouka and most likely never be able to return. Men are not needed in the manor. If necessary, I could run away. If possible, I would like to take Kyouka with me. She has beautiful hair, like wavy black midnight. I would like to take a picture of her with my Camera Obscura. Sometimes worshippers from nearby villages come here. All of them cover their faces and head into the shrine. Today's worshipper seemed to be a woman. She was holding a dead baby, and crying. I can also hear that "Lullaby". I guess the Ceremony is like a funeral.

Kei set the notebook down. "So that ghost with the hair was Kyouka."

He checked the back of the camera and saw 30 shots of Type-14 film. He checked to see that it was working properly, and headed back down the steps. Nothing really was of interest in the tatami except of a candlestick and an old coal brazier. Kei headed down the hall way at the bottom of the staircase. Halfway was an alcove that lead to the storage space behind the stairs. Nothing was really of interest there except for a half a bottle of herbal medicine. He continued down the hall. After turning left the hall continued strait for a few feet or turned right with another hallway and a door at the end. A single candle was lit at the intersection, setting off a dim ember glow. He headed strait and went through the door.

"Still…not enough…"

Kei jumped as he heard a deep male voice behind the thick screening in front of him. He cut off a large square of the room, with only a staircase to his left and a door at the bottom. Across the room was another door. Kei squinted through the screen and saw the figure of a broad shouldered man hold what looked like a cleaver, and he then disappeared. He turned and headed up the steps. After about ten steps it turned right and went up several more steps. At the top there were at least nine bookshelves, all masquerading as sort of the walls. Several of the larger books that wouldn't fit in the shelves are piled on the tops of the shelves or they lie scattered throughout the room on the floor. Kei stepped up to one large gray book that was open on the floor. It has the illustration of some kind of ascetic, his body covered in a blue snake-like tattoo. On the next page is a picture showing the ascetic being swallowed up by a snake. "A book on local folklore and myth, maybe…?" Kei thought. He maneuvered around the shelves, finally coming to the back of the room. There was a gap between two shelves, and a smaller shelf was blocking the path. It was empty… He stood to the side of it and pushed with his left shoulder. It moved, and after two good pushes he could move to the back of the room. A ladder was against the wall, a wooden door blocking off the top. To his right carved into a bookcase was an altar. A light was shining, illuminating a cool blue book holder. "Something sacred must go there…" Kei thought, studying the area. Underneath the hallow area was a tiny inscription:

Offer up the Tome of Instruction

written in the Ink of the Etching of the Soul

Beside the altar was a small bronze object reflecting the light. He picked it up. It was a small, old key, the top not carved but in the shape of a crimson butterfly. "Maybe this is the key to getting to Mio…!" Kei thought excitedly. He hurried down the steps back into the first floor. He ran through the room with tatami and back into the four branched hallway. He went up another set of stairs back to the door that he had unlocked with the hairpin and stopped, hoping Kyouka wasn't still floating around. He cracked the door and peered inside. He saw the kimonos strewn around the room on the wire, but no sign of the spirit. He went through and went back into the room and down the steps where he had saw Mio. He waved his hand by the lock to clear the crimson butterflies and unlocked the door. "Mio…?" He called as the door opened. The butterflies immediately flew to his right, going through a set of black double doors. It look like it lead to a prison area. A coal brazier was in the middle of the room, and a set of twin pillows was beside it. He then heard his niece whispering.

"_I promised Mayu that we were always…going to be together. So, I want to go too…So we can be together again…_

Kei ran through the door and saw through wooden bars Mio slumped down in front of a little drawer, a paper shade lamp with crimson characters written on it. The butterflies were fluttering lazily around her. Kei saw a tear drop from Mio's chin.

"Mio!" Kei called her name. "Hold on, I'll be back soon." He then felt his body go numb, before finally awakening.

Rei opened her eyes, he breathing heavy. It was night, and there was a constant sound of static filling her ears. "Kei Amakura…I saw his dream too…" Rei thought. She looked around and saw that it was still raining, but it was nighttime. She opened her door and walked over to the balcony. It wasn't on the first floor. She looked behind her and saw Miku's bedroom door and Yuu's bedroom door. She stepped up and pressed her ear to Miku's door. It wasn't in there. So it was coming from…Yuu's room…Rei walked slowly to his door and opened it, the static sound getting louder. She walked into his room, feeling goosebumps raise up on her skin as the air got colder. Yuu's window was open for some reason. Rei walked over and closed it, then heard the static even more. It was coming from his closet. She moved a couple of the cardboard boxes and opened the sliding door. The shelf was mainly empty, and a couple of skeletal-like wire hangers would sway in an occasional draft. It wasn't in here…wait. Rei looked up. It was coming from the attic. The closet was the way into the attic, with a door on the ceiling. Rei reached into one of the boxes and came out with a box of matched. She got up on the shelf and opened the attic door. A molded smell wafted from above, and the static sound got even louder. She struck a match and stood up, her chest level with the closet ceiling. She looked around. Several webs were on the rafters, and it was extremely dark. She pulled up and the match went out. She quickly stuck another one as the brief blindness left her. She walked forward, the floor groaning. Or was it the ceiling of the second floor? Oh well. At the end the attic narrowed. A box was at her feet, and the sound stopped. Suddenly, she heard a scratching crawling sound. She looked around-

-and caught a glimpse of a woman crawling out of the narrow area. Rei gasped and backed up. Her match went out, and she dropped the box of them. "Oh no I need to get out of here NOW!" She thought, panicked. She turned to leave, but heard a gasping moan. It sounded like someone who had their esophagus broke. Rei then felt coldness on her back, and around her collarbone. She looked down-

-and saw white arms wrapping around her neck.

Rei sat up again, this time light hitting her eyes. She was in bed again, and felt the stabbing cold pain in her shoulder as the tattoo spread a little more. "Was that a…dream…?" She looked at the Camera Obscura on her desk and saw several undeveloped photos. She picked them up and headed out of her room and back into Yuu's. She went back up into the closet and checked the box up in the attic. Inside was an old radio, with two knobs and a speaker in the front. It was a rust color with gold decorative trim. A book was underneath it:

Spirit stone radio

Dr. Kunihiko Aso was requested several years ago to make a camera that allowed the naked eye to see things it shouldn't. Well, after this he explored further and made a radio for the communication with the "other world". The reaction with a special spirit stone crystal makes it possible to hear the voices of ghosts.

Rei set the book down and marveled at the radio a bit longer. A small note was attached to it. It was from Kei:

Dear Yuu,

I found this near the area where I found the Camera Obscura. Actually, Mio hinted to me where this was. She said something about listening to the voices of ghosts and the thoughts of Mayu. I was wondering if you could find something out about it.

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei ripped the note off and took the radio back to her room and set it on her desk behind the camera and headed down the stairs into the living room. The long blue drape over the sliding glass door flickered, as though someone was behind it. "Miku…?" Rei called out. Feeling stupid instantly afterward, she continued on to the dark room. She took the pictures and developed them. The first one was of the skewered dolls around the sacred tree in the courtyard. Maybe it was of a religious ritual…? The next photo was of the shrine maiden in the room full of dolls nailed to the wall. She has a stake in one hand and a hammer in the other. "Just like in my vision…" Rei thought. She headed out of the darkroom and back into the living room. On her way she saw Ruri, Miku's black and white cat, sleeping in the window pane. "Ruri, shoo!" Rei called. The cat scampered away. Rei walked into the living room and saw Miku headed down the stairs, still in her pink frilly pajamas. She yawned. "Good morning…" She said weakly.

"You feeling okay Miku?" Rei said, walking up to her.

"Lately, I haven't been sleeping so well." Miku said tiredly. She yawned again.

"Well, I was going to ask you something but since-" Miku cut her off.

"It's okay Rei, you can ask me whatever you want, okay?" Rei smiled.

"Well, I was wondering if you could research these photos for me." She handed Miku the photos of the skewered dolls and of the shrine maiden. Miku took them. "That reminds me, I collected some data on the other photos you gave me. I think they have some connection to the stained corridor and whatnot. It's on the kitchen counter." Rei nodded and headed over to the counter. On top was a cut out article from an old newspaper. The headline read:

Buried Mummies

It has been reported that in the process of rebuilding Kukaiji Temple, which commenced last month, many mummies have been found in the hallways. In the walls of the area called the Shadow Hallway in the Kukaiji Temple, there were stains in the shape of humans. But when that hallway was restored someone noticed there was something like the root of a tree coming out of the wall. Digging it out, it turned out to be a mummy. In the other stained areas, many more mummies were found and quite a commotion was raised. The Kukai Temple insists they are enshrined saints, but certain observers argue that they may have been killed in sacrifice.

There was another article underneath it. It read:

Many bones found in ruins

On the 8th, in a survey of an ancient manor ruins in the northern part of the prefecture, a large number of human bones were discovered in the ground. Stacked tombstones were excavated from the center of the manor, an area thought to be the grave courtyard. Bone after bone was discovered beneath them. All bones are thought to be from the time the manor was built. The white robes signal burial cloths seem to indicate they are from laborers who built the manor. It is believed they were buried after the manors completion to protect the plan of the manor or the location of treasure, or perhaps those who built the manor were killed as a sacrifice.

Underneath that article was a notebook filled with Miku's handwriting. It read:

Coverage of the abandoned house we went to

Below is a summary of what a newspaper reporter told me about the abandoned manor. I didn't have time before so please take this as a reference.

History of the manor

The say there were several villages around the manor until the 1900's. But today only the abandoned house remains. Even the landowner doesn't know when or why it was built. Now only the area around the entrance is left, but originally it was a huge manor, deep and strangely shaped. It seems on old maps that a shrine is occasionally drawn in. But now there exists not so much as a trace of it, and not much is known about it, only that the outlying mountains has a myth that is connected to the other world. The rumor of the "ghost manor" may be due to the myth but since long ago the abandoned house has been called a ghost manor. Many people visit it just because of that rumor. The rumor is that "you could meet the dead at the manor" and further that the dead you meet will summon you to the "other world". The rumor's origins are said to be in seances that were held in a shrine there. However, that is merely a rumor too. In any case, I think the story of the mountain connected to the other world is just the source of the rumor.

Rei set the information down. "A place to meet the dead…Is that why I see Yuu there…?" Rei let the information sink in.

"Rei, are you okay?" Miku asked. Rei nodded.

"Yeah…" But even Rei knew she was lying to herself.

Mio Amakura looked at her uncle with wary eyes. "Your having the same dream now too huh…?" She said softly. She knew she wasn't going to be awake long. All she knew was that she was in a hospital, and Kei had been working and sending letters as hard as he could to save her, and now he needed saved himself. "Don't worry Mio, just hang in there. It should be okay soon." And with that, the sleepy fifteen-year-old closed her eyes and entered another deep sleep.


	7. Hour 6: The Return to the Lost Village

Hour 6

The Return to the Lost Village

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Crazed laughter, piercing through everything. _**DING! **_Twins in front of many rows of candles, crying out "Don't kill me!" _**DING! **_A woman in a blood stained kimono standing over a square abyss throwing her head back with insane laughter. _**DING!**_

Mio's brown eyes flew open. "Mayu!" She screamed, not even realizing what she had said. She was lying on a large stone platform. A breeze ruffled her short black hair. She was outside. She saw a fallen torch at her feet, and then near her head was a lit one. She was on the Offering Stone on top of Misono Hill. The entrance to the Lost Village. She stood up, seeing by the broken torch the flashlight. She picked it up.

"The two chosen…to heaven…"

Mio looked over and saw Mayu limping as fast as she could down the hill toward the village. "Mayu wait!" Mio called out, and began jogging to follow Mayu. At the bottom of the hill was an old deteriorated house. Mio recognized it as the Osaka House. But that wasn't her main interest. She saw Mayu running ahead, he fleeting figure going to the right. Mio followed her, and tripped on a metal object. "No, no it can't be! I thought this was over!!" Mio screamed. It was the Camera Obscura. Mio was half tempted not to pick it up, but decided to anyway. She continued to follow her twin.

"Dear sister…I'm over here…"

Mio stopped as the demonic voice filled her ears. She turned slowly-

-and was face to face with the evil Sae. Mio screamed as the spirit in the blood-stained kimono began laughing. Mio took a picture of her, and only heard the click of an empty cartridge. She threw the camera down and continued down the stone path, turning right down a path littered with dying cherry blossoms. She knew where this lead. The Kureha Shrine. "There I can leave the village…" Mio thought. She pumped her legs harder, crossing over a makeshift log bridge. Mio stopped at the large Shinto Gate. Kureha Shrine was etched at the top. On up the path was the Old Tree. She then saw going through the doors of the shrine, her twin. "MAYU!" Mio screamed, and ran up the stone steps, her legs beginning to ache. At the top, the shrine was covered in a light mist. "Would Mayu leave without me…?" Mio thought. She walked up and headed through the large double doors. Inside she saw the large shrine up ahead. Behind it was a lattice wall, and the exit. "Finally, I can leave this nightmare…" Mio thought. She heard footsteps, and rushed to the back of the shrine. She caught a glimpse of a brown dress. Her sister. "Mayu…" She whispered. She headed down the stone steps. At the bottom the path got darker. A Shinto Gate was overhead, covered in sacred rope. She heard Itsuki's voice.

"You two go on by yourselves…and don't look back…"

Mio started forward, stepping over puddles of water. Halfway through, she saw light at the end. It was the end of the tunnel, end of the nightmare, end of the village. She began running, Mayu slipping her mind for the first time ever. "If I wake up, I can forget…" She thought.

"_**Dear sister…are you leaving me again…?"**_

Mio stopped. "Mayu?" She started to turn, but stopped. Itsuki had warned not to look back. She let her eyes wander, and for a brief second saw her sister standing back at the beginning of the tunnel. Mayu had finally caught up. Mio smiled, turning to face her twin-

-but instead standing at the end was Sae. Mio turned to run but was now faced with a stone dead-end. Mio began breathing faster. Maybe she could slip past the evil spector.

"_**I kept waiting in a dark place. And finally you find me and decide to leave by yourself? You evil wench! You will beg for mercy Yae!"**_

Mio closed her eyes as the spirit flew forward and took hold of her arm. The pain left, and Mio opened her eyes. She was in a prison in the Kurosawa House. Butterflies swarmed around her. "I promised Mayu that we would be together…Why was I leaving…This is her way of repaying me…" Mio thought. She heard someone enter the room. She began to sob, barely hearing the male voice.

"Hold on Mio, I'll be back soon…"

Mio sat sobbing in her hands. Why wouldn't the nightmare end…?

Rei gulped down the glass of water and set the cup back in the kitchen sink. It was 5am and Rei had woken up with a serious case of dry throat. She trudged back upstairs to her room. So far she hadn't had a nightmare since she had lain down to sleep. She rested her head on her pillow and quickly fell to sleep, hoping the rest of the night would be just as peaceful…


	8. Hour 7: The Sacrificial Pillar

Hour 7

The Sacrificial Pillar

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Snow was falling onto the skewered dolls in the courtyard, so softly. _**DING! **_The man with his face hidden and the bloody cleaver was standing in the four-branched halls, turning wildly. _**DING! **_The grave courtyard, the Two Mandarins double doors… _**DING!**_

"_Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace… If you cry the boat you'll ride will rock you to the other side…Until Suffering Unleashed on All…"_

Rei's head snapped up to the sound of the lullaby. Was she in her room? No, red was all around her. She focused her eyes and saw that she was in the Red Doll Room. The room she had been before awakening the previous night. "So much for no nightmare…" She thought glumly. She stood up, picking up the flashlight and Camera Obscura on the altar by her head. While drifting to sleep she remembered seeing in a sort of white haze the courtyard right outside the door. She walked up and opened the door, the warm and somewhat cozy feel of the doll room quickly erased by the blast of cold wind from outside. She turned to her left and followed the long hallway to the opened out area where the little skewered garden was. _CREAK…CREAK…CREAK… _Rei looked over to the sound of the footsteps-

-and saw Yuu walking out of sight toward a set of double doors she had yet to explore. "Ah…" A tiny sound escaped her throat, and she ran in pursuit of him. At the doors, she saw it was tightly sealed, with sacred rope and paper stretched tightly across it. Staked to the doorknob were four cloth dolls in the shape of humans and scribbled on them with blue ink was what appeared to be a tattoo. "Could Yuu be…in there…?" She thought. She pulled on the door, not expecting them to open. Rei turned and decided to look around the manor and hoped to find a clue and possibly, a way to opened the tightly sealed area. She walked toward the garden area, staring at the dolls on the polls as she walked by.

"In order to keep the Rift from opening…"

A deep male voice shook Rei from the bone. She jumped and immediately brought the camera's viewfinder to her eye. Walking from the garden area was a man in a torn white robe and a tall white court hat, hanging in shreds on his head. His body was covered in the blue tattoo, except for his eyes. The filament began glowing a deep red. Rei snapped a photo, and the film slowed him down a little. She then saw in his hand a blue staff, a spear on the end. He brought the spear up over his head, his once handsome face twisted in fury. Rei ducked to the left, only getting a few inches between them as her back hit cold wooden wall. He brought it down, the weapon missing Rei by millimeters. She snapped another photo, and the damage seemed to double as she captured him in a 'Fatal Frame'. Rei then saw the man stop, and she hesitated. "Should I take a photo…?" She thought silently. She looked down to check how many shots were left. Twelve. She then felt overwhelming coldness go over her and looked up-

-and saw the man rushing toward her in a mad rage, his weapon raised. Catching her off guard, the staff connected with her left arm, and she fell back in a cry of pain. Holding the camera in her right hand, she snapped another photo and his spirit slowly disappeared, leaving a book in its place. She looked over at her arm and saw a burn-like whelp on her arm. She rubbed it painfully, and reached over to see the book that had been left. It was yellowish in color. On the front was **Moriya Tome 1.** "A tome eh…?" Rei opened it and began to read:

**Top shrine carpenters have been gathered together to seal the Kuze Shrine into the depths of a great cavern so that not even a single ray of light can enter into the darkness. Then we must erect a shrine of The Rift in front of the great cavern using spirit trees as the core pillars and with sacrificial pillars arranged so that the darkness is purified and The Rift cannot leak into the world. **

Rei set the notebook down. "Those men in white. They run, lost in this Manor of Sleep, chasing them is a tattooed man wearing the same white robes who stands in a sea of blood. Those men in white, the tattooed man, the man who hides his face and carries a cleaver, how are they all connected…?" Rei put the jumbling questions away and headed for the door in front of her across the garden. She opened the door and saw that she was in an anteroom, a staircase to ahead and a door to her left. The bundles in the corner of the room that look like babies but are only dolls stood out the most. She brought her flashlight down-

-and it reflected large splatters of blood. It trailed along to the back of the staircase. "What the…?" Rei took a wary step forward-

-and another man covered in the tattoo rushed out with his weapon raised. Rei brought the camera up but missed the shot as she dodged to escape the spirits blow. She turned as she shot loaded up and took another photo, this time hitting the man in the face. He screamed.

"For the Kuze Shrine!"

He rushed her again, but Rei shot off another picture, and he disappeared in a blue haze, leaving a tome just as the other spirit. Rei walked over and picked it up:

**Moriya Tome 2**

**When building or repairing the Kuze Shrine and the Last Passage all the carpenters of the Moriya family, except for their leader, must be prepared to stay behind, never to return. Excluding one who exceeds in their craft, all the carpenters must fulfill their duty to protect the secrets of the shrine by being buried as the Sacrificial Pillars lining it. The remaining Moriya carpenter must become the Master Builder and ensure that the craft is carried on to the next generation.**

Rei dropped the notebook and continued ahead, passing the stairs and going through the door. This lead to the four branched hallway. Many of the tiny water candles that were lining the halls had died out, the once warm ember glow in the hall now replaced by ominous shadows. Rei walked forward, a branch to the left leading to the room with tatami, the branch to the right leading to the projector room, and ahead which was the foyer. Rei saw leading left was more splatters of blood. Rei heard a wet _SPLISH _as her foot stepped into a pool of the blood. She looked down, kicking her feet. "Oh yuck, how gross…" She grumbled, trying to get the blood off her high heeled shoes.

"Here you will stay…until you rot!"

Rei looked up and saw yet another tattooed man rushing toward her. She snapped a photo, getting a 'Fatal Frame' and banishing the spirit easily. He left another tome, and she picked it up and read it:

**Moriya Tome 3**

**After the Unleashing happened, the priestess who had wandered loose from the Chamber of Thorns roamed about the manor as if in a dream. Those passages the priestess entered were engulfed by The Rift and fell into darkness. The Rift Shrine is a hidden shrine that ensures that the priestess wanders forever and never escapes and that The Rift does not spill forth.**

Rei dropped the book, a little puzzled. "What is this "Rift"? And where on earth is this Chamber of Thorns…?" She tried not to think about it, and continued down the hall and through the door into the room with tatami. The grandfather clock still ticked noisily, giving the only sign of life in the room. She headed around the beam and to the left past the staircase and down the hall. At the end it turned left, with a door ahead and a short hall to the right with a door covered in talismans. She headed right, wanting to explore the uncharted area. She opened the door, and gasped. Ropes hanging from the ceiling beams, a large floor to ceiling mirror. She was in the part of the house Miku had dreamed of. "Himuro Mansion I think is what she called it…" Rei thought. So this house wasn't a house all its own, but the rooms that Miku had remembered the most was actually attached to the Manor of Sleep. She marveled at the hall, and noticed more blood running the length of the hall leading the door that lead to the foyer. She took a step forward-

-and another tome dropped from the ceiling. She jumped back and snapped a photo, hearing another tattooed man scream in pain.

"Use me…my body!"

He disappeared, and she picked up the fourth and final book:

**Moriya Tome 4**

**The Rift Shrine makes the priestess wander for eternity and stakes must be used to impale her limbs while praying for her peaceful rest. When the priestess is restless, it is necessary to build on to the Shrine of Sleep and pray for her to slumber. The Shrine of Sleep is sealed within a dream to prevent the priestess from escaping and the spread of The Rift. To keep The Rift from spreading we must ensure that she stays staked down and pray for her eternal sleep.**

Rei dropped the tome, and felt something leave her body. Like a sense of dread. "Those four seals on the door in the courtyard must be gone…" Happy with this thought and the prospect of maybe being able to see Yuu, Rei quickly navigated the Manor of Sleep until she found herself back at the courtyard. On either side of the double doors were dimly burning blue-flamed torches. She stepped forward. The doll talismans were gone, but the sacred rope and paper were still there. "Maybe I can force it open…" She thought. She reached forward, but a voice behind her stopped her.

"It must not open…That priestess…The shrine must be sealed."

Feeling like a child caught by their parents, Rei turned-

-and saw the man with the bloodied cleaver hiding his face advancing toward her.

Rei opened her eyes as a ringing sound filled her ears. She was in bed, and downstairs her phone was ringing. She sat up-

-and felt the most intense and worst pain yet. It felt as thought someone was taking red hot pokers and wriggling them about on her skin, tearing her flesh and piercing the muscle underneath. She felt it spread up her neck and down across her chest and down to her wrist. It was the tattoo, and it soon disappeared. Rei took a quick moment to gain her breath, frightened at how much the tattoo had spread. She looked around and saw that the phone had awoken her during the night, and that she had only managed to sleep little more than an hour. She stood up and saw more undeveloped film by the Camera Obscura on her desk. She picked it up and headed quickly downstairs to answer the telephone. "Hello…?" Rei said sleepily into the receiver. There was muffled grumbling, and then the loud voice of Yoshino Takigawa erupted in her ear.

"Let me out…let me out! LET ME OUT!! I should have died…"

After the last word was spoke, a dial tone filled her ear. She dropped the receiver and shook her head. "What the hell?!" She rushed over to the door by the kitchen and headed down the hall toward her bathroom. It was dark, and she felt her way down the wall, her feet making muted thuds on the cold wooden floor. Finally she reached the bathroom and turned on the faucet, filling her hands with cold water and splashing it on her face. "Am I going crazy…?" She repeated the step again, soaking her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror-

-and saw a shadow stroll behind her toward the dark room. It was Yoshino's spirit. "Hello?!" She called out. It was every child's worst nightmare. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, pitch black all around and then seeing something behind them. A ghost… Rei peeked her head out of the bathroom and looked toward the white door leading to the dark room. "Is she in there…?" Rei, building every last nerve and clutching the undeveloped photo, headed slowly toward the dark room. She opened the door, the red light even spookier. She saw nothing. "This is really getting to my head. Either that or my house is now…haunted." Rei pushed the thought away to think about during the daylight hours and developed the photo. It turned out to be a photo of at least thirty men standing in the courtyard of the dream manor, all in front of the sacred tree. Strangely enough, the skewered dolls were absent from the photo. The man who hides his face was standing in front of them hall, still holding his then clean cleaver. They were all standing in line, as though it was a commemorative photo. Rei sees in their hands carpenter tools. "So, maybe they are the men who were sacrificed as the sacrificial pillars, and the man holding the cleaver is the new Master Builder…" Happy with the photo, she quickly headed back into the living room. _SSCHHHH! _ A loud burst of static erupted in the room. Rei looked over and saw her television on. She walked over and hit the off button. The TV continued to show static. Panicking a little, she reached down and unplugged the TV. It continued to blare static. "Oh God just stop, please!" As though on command the TV stopped with an electrical buzz, and sudden silence enveloped the house again. Rei ran back up the stairs, feeling a need to check Miku before going back to sleep. She cracked her door and saw her turn in her sleep. She smiled, hoping Miku was getting some rest. "Unlike me…" Rei headed back into her room, pulling the cover high over her head, all of her childhood fears returning.

Miku opened one eye slightly at the sound of her bedroom door opening. It then closed quickly afterward. "Must be Rei, checking on me…" Miku thought, feeling secure. She didn't want to, but tiredness swept over her, and soon sleep had entered her frail mind once more.


	9. Hour 8: The Hanging Prison

Hour 8

The Hanging Prison

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_The Red Doll Room, something shining on the altar. _**DING! **_The shrine maidens surrounding something on a stone floor, but one of the four is missing. _**DING! **_Looking through a square hole in the roof to a sort of Ceremony Room. _**DING! **_A hanging cage suspended high in the air. _**DING!**_

"_Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace… Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace  
If You Cry, the Boat You'll ride  
The Last Trip to the Other Side  
Once You Get There, Sacred Marks You'll Bear  
They Shall be Pealed off, Should You Fail to lie Still"_

Miku sat up quickly to the sound of the lullaby. Was she awake in her own bed? No, she was back in the hanging prison room where she had followed the little girl.

"Save the two…"

A handmaiden appears in front of her, whispering again in her sad tone. She disappeared. Miku looked down and saw the camera and flashlight. She picked it up and made sure they were both working properly. Miku then saw that she was again wearing the outfit she had worn during her night in Himuro Mansion. "So, when I fall asleep I wear this…" Miku thought. She pointed the flashlight up and saw a wooden cell suspended in mid air. What appears to be a woman's figure is lying on the bottom of the prison. Attached to each of the four corners of the cell were tiny sandbags. The camera's filament was glowing to the left where something was hanging, and she took a picture. It came out undeveloped, and she put it away. Miku then checked the huge altar in front of herself. Several candles on were on the inner wall on each side of the altar where tattooed skin is enshrined. Miku reached out and touched the skin. It was leathery and moist feeling. It was real skin…It was worn and in shreds, but the blue pattern of the tattoo is clear and unfaded. The skin had been nailed to the wall with sharp stone stakes on each side where limbs would be. In-between those two walls was a small shrine-like altar. In front was a mounted pedestal with four indention's. There was an ancient script engraved on the pedestal. Obtain the four purity stones. By the Handmaidens Lullaby subdue the waking of the priestess in the Chamber of Needles. Miku looked away and decided to explore the manor a bit more and hopefully find these "Purity Stones". She headed out of the Tattoo Altar Room and saw she was back in the room with the huge cloth draped in a square in the middle of the room. The Blind Room…

"I must capture the traveler before the priestess notices. All ties must be severed. There will be no attachments…"

Miku heard a deep female voice coming from inside the cloth. She tried to peer through it but the heavy cloth prevented it. She turned and headed past the set of stairs leading to another floor above and headed out the door at the bottom of the staircase. She headed down the hall past the candle and branch to the left back to the main area of the room with the grandfather clock. She then heard the lullaby coming from somewhere. She stepped forward, the sound getting closer. At the end, low in the wall was an open door leading under the floor. It was narrow, and she would have to crawl on her stomach and elbows to get through. Miku wasn't really at all claustrophobic. She got down and pulled her way into the door. It smelled of must and mold under the floor, and she saw several dozen spiders scatter away as she wedged her flashlight ahead. The camera was pressed tightly against her stomach as she crawled forward. The narrow passage turned right ahead, and she heard a loud thump fill her ears. She froze; hoping the floor wasn't caving in. The house WAS old… After a few moments, she continued forward-

-and suddenly felt nippingly cold air going up her leg. She tried to crane her neck as her hair pulled on the wood above. It was too narrow. She couldn't turn enough. Then she heard laughter, and knew it was a ghost. She was thoroughly screwed. She kicked forward, crawling as fast as she could through the winding narrow passage. She stopped and looked back as much as she could, and didn't see anything. She turned and started crawling again-

-when suddenly a body appeared on all fours, reaching out toward Miku. Her face looked blotched with blood, and her eyes were a deep crimson color. Her mouth was open as she screamed, and her scraggly black hair went down the length of her back. Miku then tried to hastily back up, but the spirit grabbed her. Miku wriggled and finally freed herself from the apparition's grasp. She began crawling forward again, seeing an old medieval-type door in front of her. She reached up and pulled on the ring and the door opened. She pulled herself out, kicking the door closed. She looked at her white blouse and saw that it was a shade of brown, and she began wiping furiously at it, trying to clean herself a bit from the dirt and dust. There were tiny rips all over it, and her black skirt had a tear on the side. She then felt the edge of a headache, and knew immediately it was from the spirit grabbing her. She reached in her pocket and swallowed some of the herbal medicine. She then let her eyes examine the room. It was an exact replica of the Red Doll Room. "So, there are more than one in the manor…" Miku thought. An altar was also in the room, just like the other one. She saw in front of the shrine and in-between two circular candle stands was a beautiful jewel about the size of a fist. It had been polished to a sheen. She brought it close to her eye and saw it seemed to glow a light blue color. It was magnificent. On the pedestal it had been resting on was the carving **"Light Blue Purity Stone"** Underneath the pedestal was a green diary:

Amane led a man into the shrine. The head of the family is so angry. If the priestess wakes up the commandment will be broken and The Rift will spread. The family head teaches all the handmaidens so hard so that they wont forget their duties. The head of the family ordered that Amane be impaled, and that her brother be cast out of the manor. Because of the duties of the handmaidens, and the duties of the Kuze Shrine, there was no other choice…Amane, I'm sorry…

Miku set the diary down. "So, this is from on of the four handmaidens…" Miku looked over to the opposite side of the room and saw a ladder leading up. She walked over to it and descended it, pushing the wooden door up. She pulled herself into the dim room, and as her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness she saw that the room was HUGE. Scattered about the ceiling were several brownish looking bodies hanging from poorly made nooses. One was swaying slightly in front of Miku, and she reached out and gently touched it-

-to find that it had the texture of burlap. So it wasn't a body at all, just a filled sack shaped like one. The room was raised slightly in the middle. On it was a tiny altar light with two ceremonial candles. On the wooden stand was an offering, and beside it two green pairs of Holly branches. It was no doubt for some kind of ceremony. Behind the altar was a large shrine the nearly touched the ceiling beams overhead. On each side of the shrine were two large Buddhist statues. In the middle it was circular with the manor's crest on it. Splattered rather gruesomely was a large red-black blood stain that permeated a foul odor. So, this was the Ceremony Room. Miku stepped back away from the large setup and walked over to the metal door in the corner of the room. She opened the sliding lock and pulled open the door. Immediately to her left was a candle that reflected twice as much light by the large floor-to-ceiling mirror behind it. Miku closed the door and started down the hall. Halfway down she heard a demonic female growl. She turned, feeling the Camera Obscura vibrating-

-and was faced with the most despicable spirit yet. She was wearing a rather ragged white and blue kimono, with many tears. Her black hair was strung out in strands around her cheeks and face. And that's were Miku's eyes were locked, her face. It brought back horrible memories of the blinded ghost named Akiko in Himuro Mansion. The poor woman's eyes had been violently gouged out by a mask made specially to gouge out eyes for a certain Blinding Ritual. But the ghost that stood before her now was much more horrible. Her eyes had been gouged out, but a dirty rope had been strung through both of the hollow crimson sockets and came out elsewhere from her head. Her hands, which she held out, had countless black needles pierced out one way and through the other, making her hand purple from swelling and red from blood. The needles were at least eight inches long, and went completely through her hand. Her eye-less head turned, moaning in another frightful demonic moan. Miku raised the camera, and remembered the strategy she had used two years prior. She moved her feet as less as possible, and tried to calm her quickened breathing. She snapped a photo once the woman had been in the middle of the viewfinder, and she screamed something dreadful. Miku then knew it was time to move as the spirit rushed toward the location of the shot. Missing Miku, she took another picture from the camera and damaged the spirit some more. In a strangled cry the woman teleported behind Miku and reached out with her needle pierced hands. Miku lunged forward to escape her grasp, and landed on her side. She rose the camera as she came down and took the final picture, the horrible spirit swirling away in agony. Miku took a quick breather, glad that she had gotten one use from being in Himuro Mansion, a tactic for fighting blind apparitions. At the end of the hall, the air got colder and she saw it was from a ragged hole in the ceiling. An occasional snowflake found its way in and at the bottom of the hole was a small pile of dusty snow. At the end of this hall, it branched left, which took her to a door she saw was locked and strangely enough surrounded by crimson butterflies, or right, which took her to the second floor. She opted for the stairs. At the top was a single candle and a closet at the end, and a door to her right. Nothing was of use in the closet so she opened the door to her right. The first thing she saw were the fallen kimonos still strung on a rope lying around the room. A Koto was behind a partition screen to her left, and a dresser was against the back wall. A purple diary was on the dresser, along with a shattered mirror and a hair brush. On the wall behind the dresser were several long locks of hair nailed to the wall. Miku brushed the strange scene and picked up the purple diary.

His parting gift was a forbidden child. The child has handsome features just like he did. If he stays in this manor, they'll cast him away once he turns four. I have to find a way to sneak him into the village below before then. If I give him the earring his father gave me, I'm sure he will be able to come back. He'll be able to hear my voice. I may even be able to see his father if he finds this earring. I'll name the child "Kaname" to symbolize our connection. I know he'll come back…with his father.

Kyouka

Miku set the diary down. "The name Kaname has been mention in other diaries before I think. She left the kimono room and headed into the opposite door. Around the corner was a set of stairs leading to the first floor. At the bottom to her right was a door, and ahead a hallway continued not very far before turning left. She felt a breeze come from the hall. "It must lead outside…" Miku jogged down the hall and turned the left, and was faced with a wooden door. She opened it, and saw she was in a tiny courtyard, with a rectangular garden in the middle. In the middle of the garden was an old gnarled tree with skewered dolls surrounding it. She walked around the garden, coming to a hallway going left. Ahead illuminated by a candles was a decorated door and down low on the right wall was a small door. She checked the decorated door to find it locked from the other side. She crouched down and pulled on the small door, and it opened easily. She saw she was in another Red Doll Room. She immediately noticed another jewel on the altar, and walked over to grab it. It too was polished to a fine shine, and seemed to glow by the candlelight. Although instead of being light blue, it had a green finch-colored glow. On the little pedestal it was resting on was **"Green Purity Stone"**. She placed it with the other one and headed out of the doll room. Across from her and the garden was another hallway, and to her right was the door she came from, and to her left was a set of double doors with a blue torch lamp beside it. She saw the imprint of burnt talisman dolls on the door, and realized someone had been going around trying to open it. "Maybe in Rei's dreams?" Miku walked on past the doors and down the hall. At the end was another decorated door and a small door on the right wall. Again the larger door was locked, so she headed through the small door into another Red Doll Room. On the altar she saw another stone, only this one was sitting on a red diary. She walked over and saw that this Purity Stone had an ultramarine glow to it. On the pedestal it was setting on read **"Blue Purity Stone"**. She placed it with the others and read the red diary.

Amane led a man into the Kuze Shrine. The man woke the Priestess from her dream. The Kuze Code must be followed. She must be punished by impalement. She must not be let go.

Miku set the diary down and tried not to think about the events that were unfolding from the diaries. "So, one of the handmaidens name Amane led a man into this Kuze Shrine to meet someone I guess, and then was impaled." Miku didn't like her conclusion to well, but decided not to think on it any longer. She left the doll room and realized there was one more to go and she could solve the puzzle in the Tattoo Altar. Miku heard a click behind her, and turned to see the decorative door opened slightly. She peered inside and saw a staircase leading down, and that it got very narrow. She went on down the stairs and saw that she wouldn't have to get as low as before, but she would have to duck a ways to get through the tight, dark corridor. At the end was a midget size wooden door with an old brass ring to open it. She pulled it opened and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw she was in the last Red Doll Room. On the altar was the last Purity Stone on top of a blue diary. She picked it up and saw it had a vibrant crimson glow. It was the **Red Purity Stone.** She placed it with the other three, and felt a tinge of excitement. She quickly picked up the blue diary and read it.

My mother told me that I had an older brother. His name is Kaname, and he lives in a house on the outside. In the Kuze House, they throw away boys, so he was sent outside. She told me many times that this was a secret. My brother has the same earring as my mother. They're beautiful gold earrings in the shape of a top and have Ruby's and Emerald's embedded in a wonderful design on them. She got them from my father. Mother gave one to Kaname so that no matter where he is he can hear her voice. I wonder if he can hear my voice too? I want to see him… Reika was made into a priestess. I help take care of the priestess. She tells me about the outside. She says when she talks the pain isn't as bad. I'm glad I can help. Reika has an earring just like mother's' She says it was a present from a good friend, so that no matter where she is she can hear his voice. I think that friend is Kaname. The priestess talks about him a lot. She seems kind of lonely…

Miku set the diary down in thought. "So, is this the brother or sister of Kaname?" Miku didn't think long about the mystery cause she headed out of the secluded doll room and started back toward the Tattoo Altar. At the door leading to it, which could also be called the Hanging Prison Room, she heard the harsh whisper of a woman in the blind behind her.

"Sacrifice Amane and the forbidden child."

Miku turned but saw nothing. She opened the door and quickly headed into the Tattoo Altar Room. In the back, she saw the four tiny pedestals where the Purity Stones would rest. She set the light blue one first, and then on down the row she set the green one, then the red one, and finally the blue one.

"_Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace…_

_If the Priestess Wakes from her Dreams…_

_Perform the Rite of Stakes, her Limbs Pinned Tight…_

_Lest the Doors open wide, and Suffering Unleashed on All…"_

A verse from the handmaidens' song resounded throughout the gloomy chamber. Above her, the mechanism for the prison cell began to move, the suspended cage raising upward. "If I can reach an upper level, maybe the third floor, I could enter the cell…" Miku thought. The figure of the woman was still visible in the cell. Behind the Purity Stones, another blue diary had fallen out. She reached out and picked it up.

Kaname sneaked in with the people who came to ease their pains. He said he wants to see the priestess, just once. It is against the Code, but as she is going to have to perform the Rite of Commandment soon, she wont be able to leave again. I want to help them meet, just once. Kaname went into the shrine, to the priestess' place. Men cannot go into the shrine, I'm sure the mistress will be upset.

"So, Kaname went to see the priestess, who I guess was Reika?" Miku set the diary down and prepared to leave the room.

"Amane, you violated the commandments…"

Miku heard the deep, harsh whisper of the woman again. She turned toward the door-

-and saw a woman dressed in a long white robe and a tall white hat standing there, most of her face covered by hair. Several hands appeared around her, wriggling about. Miku raised the camera, and as she got the horrible looking ghost in the viewfinder, she disappeared, whispering,

"How could you lead a man to the Kuze Shrine…? Must…close…the Chamber of Thorns."

Miku lowered the camera, and heard the lullaby again, the soft singing making her sleepy, until she awoken to the real world again.

Rei jerked awake to the sound of a scream. It had came from Miku's room. Rei jumped up, catching a glimpse of the clock and saw that it was midnight, and headed into Miku's room. She was sitting upright in her bed, wearing a loose fitting sleeping pink sleeping gown. "Miku, are you okay?" Miku was staring off into space.

"Mafuyu…Kuze Shrine…" Miku mumbled.

"What…?" Rei shook her shoulders. Miku snapped her head up.

"Oh, nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all…I'm sorry if I woke you." Rei shook her head. "No its okay, lets try to get some sleep okay?" Miku managed a quick smile and laid back down. Rei left her room and went back to her own, hoping that the rest of her sleep would be peaceful. Actually, she was praying for it.

The sound of rain woke her. Rei opened her eyes and saw that it was early morning, and still gloomy and rainy. She sat up and headed out of her room and downstairs. Miku was napping on the couch. Rei chuckled at her gentle snoring, and hoped she was getting some peaceful sleep. On the kitchen counter was several note books, a post-it by Miku, and another letter from the mail, probably from Kei. Rei read Miku's note first.

I found some information related to the skewered dolls photo you gave me and I was interested in the lullaby so I found some info on it to. Also, I brought the mail in and another Letter from Kei and a couple of cassette tapes came today. I set it all here for you. I hope it helps.

Rei smiled and picked up the first document under Miku's note. It was entitled

**Legend of Song 1**

**In the mountains of the Mutsu region, there was an old lullaby that was only passed on to certain villages. **

"**The Sleeping Priestess: Verse 1"**

**Sleep Child, Go to Sleep…Sleep Child, Go to Sleep…**

**If You Cry the Boat You'll Ride, the Boat to the Other Side**

**Once You Get there, the Bib You Shall Wear**

**And You Will be Punished, Should You Fail to Lie Still…**

**Within the same mountain chain, the song The Sleeping Priestess was only transmitted to a certain number of villages. The dissemination is thought to be dependent on elements such as the villages' roads and location. As the usage of the word "Priestess" implies, this song is thought to have had its origins in indigenous folk rites, given its method of transmission. As for the lyrics themselves, the opening line, "Sleep Child, Go to Sleep" calls the child into sleep. The next part, "If You Cry the Boat You'll Ride, the Boat to the Other Side" uses words like "boat" and "the Other Side" which is suggestive to banishment. It can be taken as a stanza of a threatening song, which is to frighten the child into sleep. "The Bid You Shall Wear" can be understood to depict "you will be dressed up to go." Perhaps as the once ceremonial song changed into a lullaby, it metamorphosed into the threating song so common in the Mutsu area.**

"**The Sleeping Priestess: Verse 2"**

**Sleep Child, Go to Sleep…Sleep Child, Go to Sleep…**

**If you should Wake from Your Slumber at Night**

**Great Wooden Stakes Shall Pin You Down Tight**

**Lest The Doors Open Wide, and the Others that Sleep Wake Too**

**The second verse develops in a similar way, and makes use of the same frightening elements. Sleep usually means ceremony, Priestess usually means child. The end shifts from centering on the Priestess or child, to an uneasy end, both vague and large in scale. It is said to express religious fear and dread of the underworld.**

Rei set the thick book down, trying to comprehend the mouthful. "I guess it does help understand the lullaby I hear in my dreams…" Next was the information on the skewered dolls.

_In many regions, particularly in the mountain areas, there remains a folk practice of dressing up dolls they make from straw, earth, or cloth, and worshipping them as idols. This was reported by an Iwate resident: It is called Kushimi, and when someone dies in the village they weave the hair of the deceased into the straw and have it wear a piece of his or her kimono. The doll is fixed onto skewers and put before a shrine at the edge of the mountain. The doll is enshrined for up to one month after death and after that period passes it is cast into the river behind the shrine together with various offerings. In this regions tradition, there is said to be a cave in the mountain connecting to the Land of the Gods. The dead who became Kushimi stand between the village and the mountain. They take upon the village's evil and head to the Land of the Gods. In a neighboring village, there is said to be a similar doll called "Igushi" but this one is the spirit of a person who died young and is deified into the mountain. In one interpretation, both village and mountain have a protective deity standing in the border between people and gods. In another sense, burdening the dead with evil or deifying the spirit of the young in a mountain for human sacrifices. _

Rei set the note down. "A lot of information for something so small, but I guess I'm glad I know what the skewered dolls are for." At the bottom were the letter from Kei and several cassette tapes. She read the letter first.

Dear Yuu,

The cassette tapes I had restored are finished now, so I'm sending them. My tape player broke so I cant listen to them, but apparently they were in pretty bad shape, so even though they've been restored, they may be hard to hear. In the dream I had the other day, I saw Mio deep in the manor. It looked like she was after her missing twin Mayu. I guess it has weighed on me, losing Mayu… When I wake, the pain and the tattoo spread, just like the story says. If I don't hurry I may also go missing like the urban legends tells of. This may be it for my investigation. Once I get off the mountain I'll give you a call.

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei then examined the cassette tapes. The first one is labeled

"Testimony of Persons Having the Same Dream: Testimony 2." The second tape that was sent is old fashioned and is labeled

"Testimony of Persons Having the Same Dream: Testimony 3" Rei set the tapes aside. Her time to do something was growing slimmer by the hour…literally.

After meddling around the house and eating dinner, Rei had sat watching TV and messing with the cat Ruri. Now that night had fallen, she decided to give the tapes a try. She was in her room and in front of her tape deck. Kicking herself for waiting to listen to the tapes at nightfall, she put in the testimony 2 tape and pressed play. A male voice that sounded like he was timing his words filled the room.

"_Yes…I…I don't want to sleep…ever again…There were a lot of people in the courtyard. The people, they were trying tying this person up with ropes…and then they wrapped him in white cloth. They were burying him, but it looked like the one being tied up seemed to be doing it voluntarily. Afterwards they put a big rock on him. No, a big log…like a skewer. It's coming from inside the manor… a song…. Children are singing…laughing! At first, I saw my wife. I just wanted to see her one more time. I went inside…I'm so tired now…so tired…the snow…"_

The tape then cuts off. Rei takes it out and places the other one in. A man with a higher pitched voice who sounds a bit panicky fills the room.

"_I can hear it. I cant make out what their saying but I can hear something! It's the same dream… Wait wait no! It's NOT the same! It's different somehow… I'm going further in, they're calling me! I can hear their voices! I cant tell what they say, they're just calling me! It's snowing. It's a big quiet manor. It seems like…a funeral! Everyone's face is hidden! It…it…wha…I'm going in deeper and deeper! It's almost…suffocating! …ACK…! I cant breathe! Uuuh…Ugh! I didn't do anything! SHE did it! No no no, it cant be! Help it's not me! Not my…ACK! UHG! AAAH!"_

The tape stopped, and Rei was thankful. It had begun to get creepy. Again, she kicked herself before listening to it before sleeping. "If I can sleep now…" She set the tape aside and crawled into bed. She reached to turn her light off, but stopped. For the first time in almost seventeen years, Rei decided to sleep with her light on.

Kei stepped into his home from visiting Mio at the hospital again. She hadn't woken any, but listening to her mumbling might help. "I just need sleep…" He thought. Throwing his bags aside he fell onto his small loveseat and closed his eyes.

"The Lost…Village…" He mumbled before finally falling into slumber.


	10. Hour 9: The Vacant Dream

Hour 9

The Vacant Dream

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Hearth room to a house with the symbol Osaka. _**DING! **_Crimson butterflies fluttering in a twin's room. _**DING! **_Mio and Mayu holding hands in a blood covered fireplace room. _**DING! **_A woman in a white blood stained kimono standing with her head down, dead people surrounding her feet. _**DING!**_

Kei opened his eyes and saw he was in front of Mio's cell again. She was still muttering her apologizes to Mayu. He stood up, flashlight and camera in hand. "Mio! Hold on, I'll be back soon…" He turned to the door to his right and headed out of the cell. The next room was quite large, and was literally covered in blood. A hearth and fireplace was in the middle of the room, and rays of moonlight shone in on the area, making it look creepier. Kei took a step inside and his foot landed right into a puddle of blood. He bit back a gag as he pulled up his shoe and heard the wet snap of the coagulated blood. "What happened here?" He thought in disgust. He stepped up into the middle of the room and peered inside the old iron pot. Inside was mounds of dust and ash that had almost liquefied from age and moisture. Around the fire pit was a symbol written in shaky handwriting and dried in blood that resembled Kurosawa House. He stepped out of the middle of the room and continued around, noting that the room was a large square, the Great Hall of the place no doubt.

"Lets stay together forever, it's a promise!"

Kei looked back toward the middle of the room and saw to twin girls in navy kimonos kneeling and holding hands. "Must be my imagination." But he couldn't shake their creepy voice out of his head. At the end was a single wooden sliding door hidden in shadows. He opened it, and saw before him a good stretch of hallway littered with several wall mounted candles. Bout halfway down was a tattered cloth that had the circular symbol for Osaka. So, the Manor of Sleep was connecting to him memories, but where had he been to a "Osaka House"? It then hit him. He had went looking for Mio and Mayu near All Gods Forest. The old ruined village was supposed to have been deep in the forest near a reservoir. It was nameless ever since a failed ritual, and was just called the Lost Village. So, looking for Mio in his dreams had connected him to the Lost Village? He shook his head and headed down the hall. At the end it turned right, and the hall branched left and right and also continued forward. For a second he thought he saw Mayu (not the one in the cell, the twin to her) and was about to call her name, but saw it was only a crimson butterfly. He felt strangely lured by it, and for a second remembered hearing Mio talk about following a crimson butterfly into the forest. Was this a good idea? He walked forward and the hall opened up into a large hearth room, with a balcony overhead, a staircase at the far end of the room, a door beside the entrance door, and a door near the stairs. A sunken fireplace was in the raised portion of the room, and a ripped up piece of paper and a shred of a red notebook cover were lying in the ashes. Above the door leading to the foyer was the Osaka symbol again. So, he was in the Osaka House… He wanted to read the paper scrap, but was to excited at the fact that he might have found a way out. He opened the door leading to the entrance, and saw it was no bigger than a coat rack room. To his right were several wooden bars that allowed him to see into the other room. A lantern with blue tinted glass allowed him to see a dresser with another scrap of paper on it, and a partition screen. The back of the room was lost in shadows, although with his flashlight he could barely make out the shape of an oblong kimono box. He walked over to the door that would lead outside and pulled on it, to no avail. He bit his bottom lip, hoping he would find another door leading outside. "Guess I'll read that paper then." He thought sarcastically. He left the foyer and headed back into the hearth room and walked up and picked up the paper scrap.

Masumi... It's me, Miyako Sudo. I came to look for you. Let's go home together. Together, we can make it. Call for me if you find this. I'll be nearby.

Miss you!

Kei set the note down. It seems Mio had a note that said the exact same thing. When he asked where she got it, all she would say was…Osaka! Kei was happy that he could at least solve one little puzzle, Mio had been to the Osaka House before. Kei decided to check the door near the entrance. He slid open the door and saw he was in the room with the wooden bars. He stood by the blue lantern for a second, since the draft in the house was terrible, and his toes, fingers, and ears were freezing. He reached out and picked up the other paper scrap, probably from Miyako as well and read it.

How much time has passed since I came here? How long will these nights last? I can't take the darkness. I'm sick of the dark. It's driving me crazy... I have to get out of here! I have to see Masumi…He went to the Kurosawa House. I think he is worried about me, but he seems on the verge of breaking down. I would hate to see him go crazy and be in his path…

Kei dropped the note. "So, Masumi is this woman's boyfriend or husband, and he went to the Kurosawa House to look for something, and from what I gathered from Mio mumbling he killed her?" Kei didn't try to wrap some other story into his own involving the Manor of Sleep and Mio. He raised his flashlight and saw that a crimson kimono box was in the back of the room. He stepped forward, and the lid of the box suddenly fell closed into place. Kei stopped frozen, his fingers fixed on the shutter button of the camera. After waiting for a full ten seconds he continued forward and saw something small and bronze colored lying on the floor in front of the box. He knelt down and picked up the cold object. It was an old skeleton key with the symbol for ginger on it. Was this the key to Mio's cell? "No, her cell was locked with two locks and had the carvings **LIGHT** and **DARK**. Kei stuck the key in his pocket and left the room and headed back out into the hearth room. The door near the steps was boarded up, so the only other option was the staircase. He headed up the first of about fourteen steps when he heard a quick, insane laugh. He looked over toward the entrance-

-and saw the girl in the blood stained kimono. He short black hair frizzled on her scalp, and from her crazed look she resembled the girl that Mio had frightfully described as Sae Kurosawa, the evil twin to Yae Kurosawa. Kei quickly finished up the steps and went the length of the balcony on the second floor and saw a door on the left wall. It was locked, and for a moment he panicked until he saw that it required the ginger key. He fished it out of his pocket and fumbled around with the lock. He finally got it open and headed into the new area and closed the door behind him. "That was close…"

"Should we continue the ritual?"

Kei looked into the new room and saw the two twins in the navy kimonos again, sitting on matching pillows. He looked around, and saw that everything came in pairs. This must've been the twins' room. The ghosts disappeared and he stepped forward, noting the large set of shelves in front of the pillows. On it were candles, offerings of incense and hair, and strung together with a ritualistic sacred red rope were two keys, labeled **LIGHT** and **DARK**. He pulled at the keys and finally got them off the rope and stuck them in his pocket.

"He's not coming back…"

Kei looked beside the shelf and saw a little girl dressed as a handmaiden run away. He looked down the hall she went down and saw a door locked with a pinwheel designed lock. He headed out of the room and back into the hearth room. After making sure Sae wasn't still wondering around, he headed back down through the cloth hallway and back into the section of the house that resembled the Great Hall of the Kurosawa House. He was walking around to the other door when it seemed like every light died, even the moonlight. Kei stopped abruptly, and let his eyes wander to the middle of the room. He saw a large figure, about eight feet tall, floating, with white poofy hair and ragged black robes and ropes strung throughout his body. He then heard the enormous spirit whisper

"I am the…Kusabi…"

Kei knew that his name was of the hidden ritual that is done before a more important ritual, and that if his ghost should wander means that the ritual has failed. Basically, he was screwed, unless. He turned slowly, raising the camera. After getting the horrid ghost in the viewfinder and he snapped a photo. That was a bad idea. Suddenly the ghost flew into the air in a rage of anger swooped toward Kei's defenseless figure. He jumped to the left as the ghost missed him by inches. He opened his eyes and saw a crimson butterfly go through the door he needed to be at. The faint figure of Mayu seemed to encircle the glowing insect. Was it Mayu's spirit? He got up as he heard the click of a lock unlocking, and dodged another attack from the powerful Kusabi. He opened the door and closed it behind him. He was back in front of Mio's cell. He didn't feel the powerful presence any more. "Mio how did you make it through this forsaken village…?" He thought, chuckling that a fifteen year old had more will power and energy than himself. He peered into the cell, and was shocked to see that Mio wasn't visible. The lock hadn't been opened either. "Maybe she is behind the bookshelf." He thought hopefully. He used the keys and opened the tiny door. "Mio…?" He poked his head around the bookcase and saw that the only thing that moved was the flicker of a single candle flame. Kei didn't take this as a bad sign. Maybe she had woken up? He was ready to leave when the bookshelf caught his eye. Being a researcher in folklore's, the books intrigued him. The books were piled randomly on one another. Also, there was several records among the documents. Glancing through the titles, the word "twin" and "crimson butterfly" is mention a lot. He pulled out one thick book that was labeled

**Crimson Sacrifice**

The forbidden ritual passed on in this village by the Kurosawa family is called the Crimson Sacrifice and is a ceremony where the Hellish Abyss is closed by sacrificing twin shrine maidens. There are two parts to the ritual: A periodic visual ritual, and in the events of its failure, a hidden ritual. Should all the rituals fail the Hellish Abyss will open, the dead will pour out, and the skies will go dark, locking this village in eternal night. This disaster is called the Repentance.

Kei wanted to keep the book, but set it back down and decided to check the house a little more. He stopped by the cell door and saw something round on the drawer. It was a round lithograph stone, with a four pedal flower design. Each pedal was a different color: Red, blue, yellow, and green. He remembered seeing the locking mechanism that had other pinwheels in it. He stuck it in his pocked at headed out of the cell area. To his right was the door that led to the Kurosawa area, and to his left was a door covered in talismans and a dark hallway was ahead. He decided to check the hallway. It was dark, and his flashlight immediately became his best friend. He sucked in his breath, tasting the dust and mold floating in the stale air. At the end of the hall was a staircase, which was lit at the end with two candles. On the wall was another pinwheel designed lock and a door beside it. "Maybe this thing will work for this one as well." He went down the steps and inserted the stone into the lock. It did several spins before he heard the door unlock. The door opened slowly, and the air seemed to permeate even more mold. "This passageway is older…" Kei thought. He pushed the door open completely, and saw that the hall was extremely dark and held up with wooden support beams. The floor was dirt and medieval torches were on the walls. He heard soft footsteps, and pointed his flashlight forward. He caught a glimpse of Mio's fleeting figure, and a few feet ahead of her was Mayu. She didn't realize it, but she wasn't really chasing anything, Mayu was already dead, and her soul wanted Mio as well. Kei began to pursue her, and he heard her soft, almost sad pleas.

"Mayu, we're going to be together…I promised you…I wont leave you…I'll go to…

Together…again…We're always going to be together Mayu…"

"Mio, wait! Please stop!" The dark hallway went by in a blur, and at the end was a large wooden door decorated in iron metal. He heard saw the door standing open a little. If he was just a little faster…He went inside the room, and saw the door ahead close. He couldn't help but stop and stare at the room he was in. It was impossibly high, with ropes strung about the ceiling and a blood altar underneath it. It was where the "hidden" ritual was performed, and the Kusabi was made. It was a sort of reassurance for the Crimson Sacrifice. He ran around the altar and pulled on the door Mio had went through. It was firmly shut. He knelt down and peered through the keyhole. He saw very vaguely a large perfectly square pit, with torches around it. Mayu's butterfly fluttered lazily inside it. Mio was standing at the edge. The area was the Hellish Abyss. "Mio no! Don't follow her!!" Kei screamed. He heard Mio whisper softly

"Mayu…together…forever…"-

-and she plummeted into the Hellish Abyss. "NO!!" Kei screamed in anger and sadness. Why? Why did Mio follow her? Was her guilt and love that strong for Mayu? Realization set in. He had just lost his two nieces. But wait. The urban legend says that you only "die" after you turn into soot, like the news had said about Yoshino Takigawa. Maybe there was still hope for Mio. He turned and left the ceremonial room and went back down the long hall and up toward the cell room again. He felt so weak, and helpless. He had failed Mayu, and possibly Mio. What else was there to lose. "Mio…" He said her name quietly, and then felt his world go black.

Rei opened her eyes. It was still drizzling, and the puffy gray clouds covered the sky. She was thankful that the tattoo didn't spread this morning. She got out of bed and left her room. She looked over the balcony and saw that Miku wasn't up yet. She walked down the stairs, and immediately the phone began ringing. She walked over and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Is this the home of Mr. Aso?" It was a kind and gentle male voice. He also sounded young.

"Yes it is…" Rei said, stopping her voice from breaking.

The man chuckled. "Hi, you must be Rei. My name is Kei Amakura, is Yuu around?"

Rei choked up. She had to tell him. "Well uh, you see…Yuu was in a car crash several months ago. It uh…took his life…" There was an awkward pause. When Kei spoke, his voice seemed shaky. "Oh, I see. That explains a lot. I'm sorry. We were doing an investigation on a certain Manor of Sleep, but I lost contact with him. Since then I've stopped the investigation." Rei paused for a moment.

"Um, I'd like you to continue investigating the manor." She said hopefully.

"…Why…?" Kei said uncertainly.

Rei was on the verge of crying. She felt like she was going crazy. She had to tell him. "B-because I'm having the nightmares too…And I know about your niece's Mio and Mayu…Please…?" Rei hoped she didn't sound like she was begging.

"Well, I've already lost Mayu. Mio is in a coma, she doesn't have much longer before this curse takes her too. I will continue. Um…Is it okay if I pay my respects to Yuu soon? I'd like to say goodbye to him." Rei felt excited. This was her chance to get him to come over to her house without asking herself. "Yes! Please that would be nice."

"Okay, thank you Rei, and I'm sorry about your loss. Take care."

"Bye…" Rei hung up the phone. Maybe she had more of a chance than what she thought…

Night had fallen, and Rei had decided that she needed a nice hot shower. The rain had slowed to a drizzle that day, and Miku had just decided to order Japanese take-out instead of cooking. Rei stepped into her large marble shower and started the water. It began steaming instantly, and Rei sighed as the hot water hit her cold skin. She heard a soft scraping sound, but just merely kept enjoying her shower. But then she heard it again, this time louder. She turned toward the glass door of the shower. "Miku…?" She said softly. Suddenly, a face came into view in the fogged up glass. It was the woman with the gouged out eyes, and her mouth was open in a silent scream. She brought her needle impaled hand up to the glass, and brought it down creating a terrible scratching sound, like nails on a chalkboard. Rei backed up a bit-

-and the glass door suddenly flew open, and a breeze killed the warmness of the shower. Rei slipped in the water and fell hard on her bottom, creating a spine-tingling sensation up her back. She wailed in a cry of pain. The spirit had gone, but the cold breeze lingered. Suddenly, a hot shower wasn't too appealing. Rei quickly got dressed and headed up to bed. As she opened her door she felt a presence. She walked slowly toward her bed, feeling panicky. Then she saw it. It was only visible for a split second. A ghostly white hand was resting halfway from underneath her bed. It disappeared once she saw it. She took a quick leap and landed in her bed, pulling the covers high over her head. Could she really go to sleep now after seeing that…?

Mio was ready to lose it. Her sanity was slowly slipping away. She just wanted to be with Mayu once more. Maybe if she could get close enough she could bring Mayu back, to forget the Crimson Ritual and just be together again. Mio would follow Mayu…

…all the way to the very end.


	11. Hour 10: The Lonely Butterfly

Hour 10

The Lonely Butterfly

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_A village locked in darkness. _**DING! **_A crimson butterfly setting on the Whisper Bridge to the Kurosawa House. _**DING! **_Mayu standing with Sae's face. _**DING!**_

The fluttering was so loud. Why was it loud? Mio opened her eyes and saw she had somehow made it out of the cell. "When I woke up…" She thought. She had only awoken for a little bit, and the nurse had said Kei had gone home. "He was looking for a way to get me out, I remember him telling me to hold on." Mio thought. She looked around and saw that she was near the Tachibana prison area where Itsuki had been. Maybe he was still here? She stood up and walked over to his tiny jail window. "Itsuki? Hello…?" Mio looked as far as she could into the dark cell. It still looked the same, if only she had a flashlight. She left the prison area and was relieved to find herself outside. It was dark, darker than before. She knew it was because she didn't have a flashlight, but she still didn't like the feeling. A crimson lantern was still lit beside her, although it seemed to be getting dimmer. "Now or never…" She thought. Mio began walking down the small stone path. It continued on ahead to Misono Hill and the Osaka House and several other places. To her left it went down a little bit to the Tachibana and Kiryu Houses, the twin houses. And also to the gate that led to Whisper Bridge, which was the only way to reach the Kurosawa House. Although ahead if she passed the Osaka House there was a path that would lead to the Kureha Shrine, which was a way to leave the village. As that thought passed over Mio, she again felt guilt of leaving her sister. Everyone in the real world thought she was losing her mind, but Mio knew her twin was dead, and had become her personal tormenter in the nightmares. But if she could just get close enough to Mayu, maybe she could pull her back to the real world. She took the left path toward the Kurosawa House.

"No matter what happens…I'll forgive you…"

Mio heard her sisters soft voice, and again saw her crimson butterfly soul leading her deeper and deeper. "Mayu!" Mio called after her, and began her pursuit. She turned the right corner around the Tachibana House and under the bridge that connected them. Then she took the left toward the Twin Deity Gate. She saw Mayu at it. "Mayu, please wait! I just want…to be with you again…" Mio called out. She took a step forward, and Mayu continued to run away from Mio. "No!" Mio called after her and began running again. She hit the gate with her fist and flung the door open. A cold and moist breeze went up her leg. She was at Whisper Bridge. Standing in the moonlight she could see the Kurosawa House. Mio stopped her gazing and ran across the bridge, reaching the Kurosawa main gate. "Together…again…" Mio mumbled, then opened the door. The courtyard was the same, with the black cobble stoned walkway trimmed in gold leading up to the front double doors. The crimson torches were still lit on both sides of the door. Mio walked up slowly, and saw lying at the base of the door the Camera Obscura and a flashlight. Well, she knew the flashlight wouldn't work inside the house, so she knelt down and picked up the camera. It was loaded with Type-37 film. She gripped the camera and slowly opened the door. The dream had altered the house a little bit. She was back in the cell area, but had come through the double doors that had been sealed with talismans. She looked to her left and saw a rather dark hall that led to a staircase. She went down the hall and then down the steps. At the bottom was a door with a pinwheel design beside it. She pulled on the door and it opened. It led to a darker area held up only with wooden beams. The floor was dirt, and it smelled of must.

"The Two Chosen Children, Shall Be Carried to Heaven…On the Wings of a Butterfly, a Butterfly that Will Save This Village…"

Mio heard Mayu whispering, and up ahead saw her figure fleeting down the hall. Mio remembered where this hall would lead. It lead to the Hidden Ceremony Blood Altar, where the Kusabi was made. From there on out would be the long path down to the Hellish Abyss, but if the dream kept altering the house… "Mayu! Mayu wait up!" Mio began chasing after her, and heard the door close and locked behind her. "We promised we would be together! If you go, I'll go to! It was a promise that I intend to keep!" Mio was halfway up the hall when she heard another familiar voice behind her.

"Mio! Mio wait don't go!" It was Kei's voice. But she was so close and she just needed more time. Mio ran through the door at the end and was in the altar room. She saw Mayu run ahead through the door, and it didn't close. Mio followed and saw that it had been altered some more. She was now in the Hellish Abyss area, a place she hoped to never see again. She heard Itsuki's warning again, telling her not to look inside. She saw Mayu's butterfly flutter into the black pit. The door behind her closed. She had to follow Mayu. She wasn't going to lose her and if she had to, she would go too. Mio walked up to the edge of the pit, and felt light and free. She seemed to float. She heard her uncle call her name again-

-and let herself fall into the blackness…


	12. Hour 11: The Unleashing

Hour 11

The Unleashing

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Snow falling through the open roof in the skewered doll courtyard. _**DING! **_The man with his face hidden and the bloody cleaver raised, charging at full speed. _**DING! **_A man is standing motionless by a coal brazier. _**DING! **_Snow coming into the dark corridor with the hole in the roof. _**DING!**_

Rei's eyes snapped open. It was the coldness that had awoken her. She felt a thin layer of wetness on her body, and saw it was from the snow falling on her skin and melting. She stood up, brushing herself of. In front of her in the little alcove was her flashlight and camera. She picked it up, and saw that the double doors she had been working to open in her dreams was still locked. After defeating the four men with the tattoos and breaking the seals, there was still thick sacred rope keeping the door from opening. "Maybe I can find a tool to get those ropes off…" She thought. She didn't really like breaking the sacred ropes, but it was the only way and about the only door she hadn't been to in the manor. She turned and decided to leave the two doors on the left and right alone and go through the door across from her and the tiny skewered doll garden. She walked around, again gazing at the odd set-up of the garden. She opened the door and saw she was back in the closet hallway. She followed the blood splatters around the right corner and saw that there was a set of steps leading up to the kimono room or a door to her left beside the staircase. She opted for the door. She opened it and saw she was back in the candle hallway. Many of the small water candles had died out, and the others that lined the four branched hall were getting dimmer. Ahead was the foyer which lead outside to the grave courtyard or left and right. She walked forward, wanting to explore the other side of the manor some more. She passed under several blue cultural lanterns, and suddenly heard a crash behind her. She turned to see on of the lanterns lying shattered. She looked up and saw the sacred rope holding them up was getting ready to break lose some more and drop the rest of the lanterns. Rei started going forward again when the lamps started to fall. She jumped side to side to avoid the flaming bombs. Finally they had all fallen, and she was safe to continue outside. The air was cold as ever, and the falling snow had only become thicker. Rei walked past the rows of nameless graves and entered through the single wooden door straight across. This lead her back to the square hallway with the black human stains on the wall. She turned right and headed down toward the left turn.

"This…finishes…it…"

Rei saw the man with the cleaver disappear from sight, going around the next corner. Rei jogged after him, hoping he hadn't disappeared. At the end she turned and saw nothing. The mummified hand was still protruding from the wall.

"Rest here…as a corner stone…"

Rei heard the man again, and after he finished his sentence he emitted a loud, bubbling screech, and then all was silent again. Rei saw to her left low in the plaster wall a square outline. It looked like a filled seam. Rei knelt down to inspect closer. Part of the caulk-filling seam was peeled away. It could be easily broke. "I wonder what's behind here…" Rei brought her leg up and gave the wall a quick kick. It cracked, and it broke open just large enough for her to fit through. She knelt down and pulled herself into the new area. She stifled back a scream as she looked down at her feet. The man with the cleaver was lying facedown, his large weapon disappearing into his chest. A large pool of blood was around his lifeless figure. Rei then remembered a document of Shrine Carpenters being buried into the walls, and the Master Builder would be the corner stone, keeping the secret with him until death. Rei stepped over the rotting figure and saw that a perfect square was cut out of the tatami mats covering the floor. Rei saw a bronze handle to open the floor. She set her camera and flashlight down and opened the secret door. It was a hidden storage space, full of carpenter tools. It looked like they were well used at one time. "Maybe they were used by the Shrine Carpenters and the Master Builder to build this manor…?" Rei thought as she glanced through the tools. Near the top was hand-held axe. She picked it up and decided that it would be a good tool to cut the ropes blocking the door. Wedged in with the tools is a map. Rei reached down and pulled it out. Beside the manor was another larger area that was marked in black. A note was attached to the map.

When the "Shrine of the Rift" fails to stop destruction, build the "Shrine of Sleep" and pray for the priestess to slumber. To keep the Rift from opening into the outside world, a final command must be driven in where the "Shrine of the Rift" and the "Shrine of Sleep" connect.

Rei set the note down. It didn't make much sense. She pocketed the map, picked up her camera and flashlight, and gripped her axe and headed out of the small, smelly area. She walked around and went through the grave courtyard through the candle hallway back through the closet hallway and back to the courtyard. She walked over to the door and gripped the axe with two hands. Even though her mind was telling her no, her intuition was saying that this was the only way to try and break the curse of the tattoo. With several good swings, the ropes fell in sections to the floor. Rei left the axe and pulled open the double doors. Her vision seemed to blur and be replaced by a black and white haze. It became harder to breath, and actually breathing burned her lungs. It was a feeling of miasma in the air. The area was HUGE. Lanterns lined the walkway to the large, plantation house like designed shrine ahead. To the left was a fallen miniature shrine, and beside the larger shrine was a small pond. To the right of the larger shrine was another one about the same size, but smaller. Several Shinto Gates led up the path to the shrine ahead. Rei also noticed that the snow had stopped. She looked up and saw that the manor and the shrines were still actually under an impossibly huge roof, built like a barn. Rei shuddered from the creepy feeling it gave her, like no matter how hard she tried she was still in a way "inside" the manor. She walked down the set of steps and up the dark walkway. Two blind woman with needles in their hands appeared facing each other at the base of the shrine, and a little handmaiden appeared by the other shrine to the right. Her steps seemed to feel light by the second. "Where…am I?" Rei thought in a slur. Her world seemed to spin, and she felt herself falling.

Rei jumped up, hearing a ringing in her ears. At first she thought it was the handmaidens pounding on their metal stakes with their hammers. She opened her eyes and saw she was wrapped up in her sheet, and that downstairs the phone was ringing. "Shit…" Rei mumbled under her breath. Before she could get up she felt the intense pain again. It was the tattoo, and already the pain was as intense as ever. She felt the stabbing, burning pain flow freely down her back, across her front and down her arms. She squeezed her eyes closed and tried her hardest not to start screaming. The tattoo spread all over her body, stopping before spreading to her face and below her kness. After the pain had subsided she wiped her tears away quickly headed down stairs. She picked up the receiver. "Hello?" She said rather rudely.

"Let me out…let me out…LET ME OUT!! Your not li-"

Rei slammed down the receiver before the horrible voice could finish. As soon as the receiver touched the phone, it began ringing again…Rei hesitated for a moment, then picked up the phone again in a scared rage. "Just leave me alone!!" She screamed.

"…I guess you had the nightmare too last night…" Kei Amakura's voice filled her ear.

Rei's shoulders slumped. She felt her face burning from embarrassment. "Yeah I did, and I'm just…hearing things when I'm awake…" She hoped he didn't think she was crazy.

"Listen, I think we should check out that abandoned house, you know, the one that is in the outskirts of town? The one that resembles the Manor of Sleep?" Rei grunted into the phone.

"I'll look over the local legends and stories, and bring them over whenever I can. I don't know what happened in that manor, but books describe it as an "Engraving Shrine." Rei nodded her head even though he couldn't see her. "Yes! Maybe we can combine the information we have and something may come to light."

"Okay, I'll try to come over as soon as I can. Also I sent some information about the Lost Village, the Minikami Dam, and Mio. Please take care Rei, and hold in there." Rei smiled.

"Okay, thank you Kei. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and headed into the foyer of her house. She saw in the mail tray under her door and envelope. "Miku hasn't been up yet…" She thought. She walked over and picked it up, tearing it open. First was a news clipping with the headline

**Missing in Minikami**

People go missing near Minikami Dam area.

By last month, two people have gone missing in the Minikami area. Their names are Masumi Makimura, a surveyor, and his girlfriend Miyako Sudo. Now yet another case has been reported, and the police have been called in. The missing people are Tokyo residents Shizu Amakura (35) and her daughter Mayu Amakura (15). On summer vacation, Mayu visited a village near the where (at the time) the Minikami Dam was to be place, with her twin sister Mio Amakura (15). The two went missing one week earlier, but recently Mio was found alone, collapsed in the middle of the forest. Mio was taken to the hospital, and though there was nothing wrong with her physically, due to extreme fatigue she is not in a condition to talk. The police are waiting for her to recover before questioning her. Last know relative is an uncle, brother to Shizu, Kei Amakura, who visits her regularly.

The next document looked older. It was labeled

**TWIN DEIFICATION**

The Lost Village practiced a folk religion rite that deifies twins. It is called the "Twins Ceremony" or "Crimson Sacrifice." When twins born in the village chosen at birth by the master and reach a certain age (most commonly 15) they are dressed in white and then are joined by a crimson cord and conduct a séance. This red cord is said to represent twins as one person and in the region it is custom to believe that when the twins become one they have the power of the gods. This rite is supposed to protect the village from The Repentance, and it is also supposed to bless them with a bountiful harvest.

Rei set the note down along with the envelope and the other clipping. "So, is this what Mio had to go through, something like what I am going through now…? At her age I cant see that happening at all to me…" Rei turned and decided that she would make breakfast for a change, it might be her last chance to make it…

Night had fallen, and Rei had been in bed since six o' clock. She had set and watched her tiny television and had eaten some left over of her macaroni and cheese she had made earlier that day. There was a knock at her door, and she jumped in fright. "Come in!" She called, knowing now it was Miku and felt foolish for jumping. "Hello Rei…" Miku gave her a small smile. Rei patted the bed next to her. Miku came up and sat down, showing her a document. "I went out today and decided to look up that tattoo. Here is what I found. It's interesting, I hope you like it." Rei smiled and opened the old book.

Tattoo Folklore

This combination of "snake and holly" in this tattoo is primarily found in Northeastern Japan. This design is chronicled in the old Northeastern Japanese folktale,

"The Tattoo Maiden"

A girl loses her lover, and before he fades from her memory completely, she takes the pain of her remaining love and imbues it in a holly tattoo. Yet the girl falls in love once more. Again she loses her lover. She engraves the tattoo of her love into her body again. This time she engraves a divine snake so her lovers spirit will arrive safely at the place of the gods. As the girl repeats love and loss, her skin grows filled with the tattoo. She cannot tolerate the pain of the tattoo and it takes it toll on her sanity. Meanwhile the snake engraved in her soul eats her heart. This legend is widely known from the plains, but depending on the region, slight differences appear. In the mountains the following changes can be found in the story. It is called

"The Tattoo Master"

The girl who loses her lover goes to the Mountain Master to relieve her pain, to confide in her. Upon hearing of the girl's pains, the Master engraves the snake and holly tattoo from the girl into her own body and assumes the pain. The villagers, hearing of this, visit the Master one after another to relieve their pains as well. Eventually the Master's entire body is covered with the tattoo. She, who took on so many pains, gets trapped in sleep from the pains of the engraved tattoos and cannot wake. Finally the tattooed snake eats her. The story has one more version. This with an even more tragic ending. "The Tattoo Master (2)"

The Master, covered in tattoos, goes as far as to tattoo holly in her eyes. Then her tattooed eyes turn to mirror and the pains engraved on the Master are repelled back to the people who engraved them. In the end, the snake eats every last person. The part about "turning into mirror" makes come from how snake's eyes were traditionally thought to resemble mirrors. Given the change in the story, it appears when the Tattoo Master legend spread to the plains it became more fable-like. The story, with its priestess like element of the Master, it was corrupted into a girl's foolish love story. As far as the meaning of the snake and holly tattoo in this folklore, the holly tree represents the pain of love for the dead and the pains of the heart. The snake is employed here in the divine sense and its import seems to be tied into love and pathos for the dead that devour those, including the girl and the Master.

Rei lowered the note. "Pretty neat huh?" Rei snapped out of her daydream. She had forgotten that Miku was sitting beside her. "Yeah, its really cool Miku. That helps me out, I'll hold on to it thanks." Rei smiled and Miku stood up. She stopped at her door. "Please try to sleep tight Rei." Rei smiled.

"You to Miku…"

Kei stared at Mio's motionless face. It was so serene, yet deadly. She was in a deep coma, and pretty soon she would disappear just like the legend says, and just like Yoshino Takigawa did. Kei was looking forward to having Rei help him with the investigation. Although there weren't too many clues, he was going to try his hardest to save Mio and his own backside. He rose up and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then gathered his things and headed home for a good night's sleep. Or at least he hoped…


	13. Hour 12: The Piercing of Soul

Hour 12

The Piercing of Soul

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_The large front to the Manor of Sleep. _**DING!**_ Kyouka nailing her hair to the wall in a rage. _**DING! **_An altar with a mirror stand on it. _**DING!**_

Kei felt his body jerk, and he opened his eyes. His back ached, and he saw he was lying on an old wooden floor. He lifted his head up to get a light out of his eyes. He saw it was the flashlight. He reached out and picked it up, then sat up himself. He was back in the Manor of Sleep. The Camera Obscura was next to the flashlight. He picked it up and stood up himself, stretching his back. From what he could tell, he was on the other side of the door where Mio's cell was. That also reminded him. His time was cut short now that Mio was close to losing the battle with the curse. He walked down the couple of steps and saw ahead was another larger staircase leading to the second floor and to the right was the hallway with the hole in the ceiling. He voted stairs. He started up them when a dark figure going through a door startled him. He heard the sinister voice of Kyouka.

"He'll be back…"

He raised the camera, but was too late to snap photo. He finished walking up the steps and paused at the door, pressing his ear against it. He could hear a sobbing, and the sound of someone pounding on the wall. He cracked the door open a bit, and saw that the kimono room still had the fallen kimonos scattered throughout the room. He saw Kyouka's spirit hammering her hair to the wall. He saw in her other hand a silver skeleton key. He looked around and saw one of the fallen kimono racks close. He crouched, hiding from the view of the deranged spirit, and picked up a piece of the rack. He reared back and heaved the piece of rotted wood next to the ghost. She looked over, dropping the key. As soon as she went to go inspect Kei crept up and snatched the key and headed out of the room through the opposite door. He examined the key and saw it had a Hawaiian flower design that represented Dianthus. He pocketed the key and headed down a different flight of steps back to the first floor. Ahead was a hallway that he remembered went outside, a door to his right at the base of the stairs and a small door on the offset wall to the hall. He walked over and saw the lock design was Dianthus as well and pulled out the key. It worked smoothly, and the door opened. Immediately he felt an overwhelmingly cold draft. It was dark in this room, and it was extremely small. He saw by the light of his flashlight that the floor of the room was broken, revealing the open mouth of an old brick well. Kei leaned forward and heard a soft whistling breeze. "Must be dry…" He thought. The more he paid attention to the noise, the more it sounded like someone…or something…crying. Kei saw a sacred boundary rope surrounding the well. Maybe it had some sort of special significance. He turned to leave the small room when the sound of an infant screaming filled his ears. It seemed to echo, and he realized it came from inside the well. Was there a baby in there? He left the room, hoping some rope would be in the other room. If there was a child in there he needed to try and help. But how did it get down there? As he shut the door it locked. He turned to pull on the door when he realized it sounded like solid wood. There was never another room? He pushed the very confusing thought out of his head and decided that maybe some cool, fresh air would clear his head. He headed down the hall and out to the skewered doll courtyard. He breathed in and felt the cold air burn his lungs. Why was it so cold? He cupped his hands and blew warm air into them. For some reason in the dream he always wore the outfit he had worn in search of Mio: A light green shirt under a forest green long sleeved shirt, the sleeves rolled up and the buttons undone. On the bottom he wore old denim jeans and black sneakers. He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and noticed across the garden the double doors leading to a large and unknown area of the manor was now unlocked. Rei had said something about trying to get somewhere. Did it lead outside? Kei forgot about being cold and rushed over to the door. He saw the burn marks of the talismans and the severed ropes. He opened the door, and was almost blasted by warm air. A black and white haze replaced his vision. Breathing burned his lungs, and he felt his breaths harder and longer. "What is this…? The air is so heavy. It's like some sort of miasma…I can feel its presence…That which lies sealed within the Manor of Sleep…That which lies on the other side of the Rift…What could possibly be in here…?" Kei noticed that this didn't lead outside, and that it seemed this little area and the shrine ahead, also the storehouse like building to its left, were all enclosed in a large wooden structure. He walked forward, taking in his surroundings. A small pond was to the right of the shrine, and in front of the shrine was a fallen wooden heap, that was once probably a building. The walkway to the shrine was decorated in silver trim, and overhead was several Shinto Gates. He walked up to the shrine and pulled on the doors, which were securely sealed. "Well, looks like I have to check the storehouse." He walked down from the shrine and headed over to the other building. A wooden bar was placed in front of the door, and he reached down and pried it up. The door then opened on its own. Ahead was a very broken staircase, with only a couple of stairs left. Behind the stairs was a dark hallway. He stepped past the staircase and heard a child laugh-

-then felt something hit his head. He brought the camera up in defense and looked down at the object. It was circular with the multi-colored flower design on it. It was a pinwheel key for the type of lock it went to. "That little girl must've dropped it…" He pocketed the item and continued down the hall. At the end it turned right, and there was a single door covered in talismans. He opened it, and light other than his flashlight for the first time. It was a single candle. He took a second to let his eyes adjust, and saw he was in an alcove at the Osaka House. A crimson butterfly fluttered past the hallway from the left, disappearing down the right. Ahead was a staircase leading up, but he followed the butterfly. It led him to the hearth room of the Osaka House, where the sunken fireplace in the middle of the room was. He saw the butterfly on the second floor, and followed it up. It disappeared through the door that had been locked with the ginger design. He was back in the twins room, and remembered that a pinwheel designed locked had been here. He crossed the room and went behind the lattice. He saw the door, and placed the missing piece in. The door unlocked and he opened the door. It was like he had just stepped into a library. There were books upon books stacked to the third floor. Many of them seemed to be full of illustrations and patterns. They looked like tattoo designs. One caught his eye. He reached out and pulled it from its dusty place. It was titled

_**Mirror of Loss Tome**_

Once the Tattooed Priestess' ritual duty has finished, the door to the other shore must be opened with the mirror which can reflect her pain. The Mirror of Loss, which reflects this pain shall be placed in the Shrine of Loss. She must break it with her own hands and cast her love away. The Tattooed Priestess casts away her love and takes the Last Passage deep underground, where she will be hidden in the Chamber of Thorns to sleep for all eternity.

Kei set the note down, thankful for the knowledge he had acquired. He continued across the library to the other side of the room where a staircase went up. He heard a sobbing, and could only make out a couple of words.

"Brother…of Kaname…" He finished the set of stairs, and saw in front of him a partition screen. The sobbing was the loudest. He poked around the screen and saw the little handmaiden with the pigtails sitting with her face in her hands. It was Amane's spirit. She disappeared, and left in her place a waxy blue candle with a tattoo design on it. Beside it was a single match. He picked up the match and struck it against the wall and lit the candle. The miasmic haze seemed to fade, and his vision returned to normal. "This must be a sacred Purifying Candle. As long as its lit the miasmic field will dissipate." He set the candle up, and heard a thump behind him, like a door closing. He turned and walked over to the white sliding door. He felt a small breeze come from it. He opened the door, and saw that he was on the roof of the storehouse. Across from him was the roof to the shrine. He heard footsteps, and saw a man in a navy kimono walking across the roof and out of site. Kei looked down and saw the back door to the Manor of Sleep. With no other choice, he decided that he was going to have to jump the gap between the roofs. It was about a two or three story drop, but the gap was only about four or five feet. "If I don't think about the height, I should be able to jump it." He thought. He closed his eyes and reared back-

-and sprinted forward, pushing up with his knees. For a brief second he was suspended in mid air, but directly after he hit the other roof, and felt some of the faded blue shingles break. He stood up and let out his breath. He walked around the large foot, choosing his footing carefully, and finally found another white sliding door. He opened it and saw that the room was quite empty, with only a staircase and a dust medicine cabinet. He walked over and pulled several of the drawers out, only to find black, rotted medicine. He stepped down the steps, and the sound of a woman's deep, incoherent muttering grew louder. At the bottom he saw that he was above the altar area of the shrine. Only several wooden support beams gave a narrow, weak path to the other side to a ladder leading down. He stepped on the first board, and saw it held better than he thought. He took another step, and then another. Finally he was above a closed off area that seemed to be a large, square glass box. It was hardly see through, but he saw the outline of a woman in white, three handmaidens, and a woman lying in a stone bed with old style tattoo needles on it. He then heard the woman speak, and realized it as the woman he had saw several times throughout the manor talking about the priestess sleeping forever.

"Prepare for the Rite of Commandment… It's time to impale the priestess…"

Kei let what she said sink in. She was giving orders to the girls. She must be the Kuze Head Family member. Kei continued along the beams until finally reaching the ladder. He placed a foot on it to check its sturdiness, and continued down to the altar area.

"Let this priestess never awaken from her dreams…for all eternity…"

Kei heard the woman again. At the bottom, he saw the room was very large, with the altar in front of the closed off area. Tucked away against the left an right wall were identical platforms. On top of the platforms were human shaped lumps stuck with needles and bound with rope. Black blood stains covered the cloth. A note was attached to one of the cloths.

We want to feel the priestess' pain…We will puncture our hands with needles and gouge out our eyes with ropes…

Kei set the rather gruesome note down. He shivered, and walked up to the altar. On the pillow in front of the altar was a thick book. On the spine was the title

The Piercing of Soul Tome

"Must refer to the ritual that takes place here…" Kei thought. The altar was arranged with small braziers and other equipment used in esoteric Buddhist rituals. In the center lays a small pedestal used to hold something round. There is a small engraving on it- _**"Offer up the Mirror of Loss etched with the Holly of the Tattooed Priestess." **_

"So, this is the Shrine of Loss…" Kei thought. He opened The Piercing of Soul Tome read it:

If the feelings of loss for those who have crossed to the other side begin to spill into dreams, they shall bring great trouble to this world. Those feelings of loss must be etched into the priestess as tattoos in the Piercing of Soul. The Tattooed Priestess, who has been engraved with the pain, shall then bear that pain into her sleep and calm the troubles of this world.

Kei set the note on the altar. "So, the Piercing of Soul happened here, behind that area…" Kei thought, looking over at the sealed off area.

"Uuuugh!"

Kei heard the sound of two demonic voices wail at the exact same time. He turned and saw two horrid spirits appear from the needle pierced cloths. Their eyes were strung with ropes, and their hands were covered in needles. The filament on the camera was glowing a dangerous shade of red… He raised the camera at the one to the left, and snapped off an average shot. She wailed, and spurred the other one to action. She rushed at Kei with her hands, waving them about in a fury. Kei stepped back and snapped another photo, landing a 'Fatal Frame' with this one. She screamed and slid backward. The first needle woman was standing in a dark corner moaning and raising her hands. Kei went to take a shot, but felt needles in his lower back. The second woman was swiping at him, and the pain was intense. He snapped a photo in her face, and she flew away from him. The first one who had been standing in the corner was now stumbling toward him, her eyeless sockets seeing nothing but darkness. Kei raised the camera and saw he only had four more shots of Type-14 film. All he had left was fifteen shots of Type-61. The two ghosts were then side-by-side and he took the opportunity to take another 'Fatal Frame'. They both screamed in unison and one disappeared. "One down, one to go." Kei thought. He raised the camera again as the last needle woman appeared by one of the blood soaked cloths and he snapped the final picture. She disappeared in one last scream. Kei looked around, and suddenly felt the air growing heavy again. "The miasma…it's returning…" He thought in a growing panic. He turned and unlocked the door to the shrine and headed back out onto the decorated path-

-and suddenly collapsed…

Rei woke up to a gentle singing. It had begun raining again, and the time was around eleven thirty at night. She sat up and switched on her lamp. Where was the singing coming from? She stood up and straightened her nightgown. She stepped quietly across her room and opened her door a little. The voice belonged to Miku. She strained to hear the words.

"_Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace… Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace  
If you cry the boat you'll ride…  
The last trip to the other side…  
Once you get there sacred marks you'll bear…  
They shall be pealed off should you fail to lie still…"_

Rei opened her door completely and walked quietly to her staircase. She saw Miku in her pink pajamas standing by the patio window. She had a hand placed on her chest as she sung the soft melody. Rei tip-toed down the stairs, and as she reached the bottom the figure of Amane appeared for a brief second. Once she disappeared Miku turned around.

"Miku…you…"

"Rei, what's the matter?" Rei shuffled her feet.

"Well, you were singing that lullaby again…" Miku looked down.

"Rei, I'm sure he's calling to me…" Rei stood silent. What could she say?

"I left Mafuyu Rei! I left him!" Miku's voice rose with every other word. Rei stepped a little closer to Miku. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Rei tried to comfort her.

"I left him all alone in that mansion…I came back by myself…I was the only one who was saved…" Rei put her arm around Miku.

"You need to sleep Miku, your really tired…" Miku's shoulder's slumped.

"Yeah, your right…Goodnight Rei…" Rei smiled and turned and headed back upstairs. She sat down on her bed in thought. "The area around the Shrine of Loss was full of evil air… Now that the door is open the air has escaped and entered the Manor of Sleep. The seal has been broken," Rei then thought frightfully, "and there is no turning back now…"

Miku lay down on the couch and closed her eyes. The pain of waking up was getting worse every morning. It was taking all she had to get up in the morning, and then when she did she was always tired. There wasn't much time left…She closed her eyes in hope to accomplish something…


	14. Hour 13: The Last Passage

Hour 13

The Last Passage

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Snow falling in the skewered doll courtyard, the door unsealed. _**DING! **_The spirit of the woman with the needles in her hands. _**DING! **_Three handmaidens around the fallen fourth one; hammers in their hands. _**DING! **_A Tome enshrined in a bookcase._** DING!  
**_Miku opened her eyes slowly. She didn't want to dream anymore, because she knew where it would take her. Fighting her urge to lie on the ground until she woke up, Miku reached out and grabbed the flashlight and camera and stood up, seeing she was back in the Tattoo Altar Room where she had been last time she had dreamt of the manor. She looked up and still saw the figure of the woman in the hanging prison. The last thing she had done was placed the four Purity Stones and lowered the cage. "The woman in the cell hasn't woken up yet…I could get into the cell if I go to the second or third floor…" Miku thought. She headed out of the room and back into the room with the cloth in the middle of the room. Miku had been wondering what was in the secluded area. Suddenly she heard the Kuze Head Family start to speak, her deep female voice scaring Miku.

"Amane, you broke the commandment. How could you lead a man to the Kuze Shrine?"

Miku saw the faint outline of the large woman behind the curtain before disappearing. Miku then noticed that a section of the cloth had been removed. She walked over and saw drawers inside the area. On one of them was a calico notebook 1, signed by the Kuze Head. She opened it and began to read.

One of the handmaidens led a man who came to offer his pain into the Kuze Shrine and so tattooed have entered the priestess' eyes and the doors to the Chamber of Thorns have opened. We should never have let a man into the shrine, no matter who it was we should have never engraved the priestess' empty eyes. Now that I have felt the pain of the Holly as well even I am not aloud outside. Before the Rift that has spilled forth from the Kuze Shrine spreads any further we must find a way to shut the shrine within the Rift. We must summon Shrine Carpenters and seal the Kuze Shrine…We should have cast that man away just as we did with that man who wondered here with the Camera Obscura.

Miku set the notebook down and left the area. She turned and saw that the staircase she had been avoiding was probably her ticket to the cell. She headed toward the steps, but was stopped again as the spirit of a man wearing a navy kimono appeared ascending the steps. Miku didn't raise the camera in time and the ghost disappeared. She followed the ghost's path and found herself in a very disordered library type room. A bookshelf had been pushed away in the back, revealing a more discreet bookshelf-like altar. She had seen this as she had fallen asleep. The middle shelf was empty, and blue candles were lit on both sides of a small pedestal to place a book. The candles were the Tattoo candles that kept the miasmic air away. She examined the shelf, and saw underneath an inscription.

Offer up the Commandment Tome

Where was this Commandment Tome? Miku searched a couple of the lower shelves, and oddly enough found the book she was looking for. "Maybe someone was in the middle of placing it here and then just left?" She thought. She opened the book, curious to know what it said before placing it.

Commandment Tome

The chosen maiden is put onto the Boat of Passing. The boat sways as it is sent to the Kuze Shrine. The Living flesh is cut, the tattoo is etched in, and the pain of the Holly shall be sealed within her.

All her love shall be interred into the Mirror of Loss. This she must break, shatter herself... Her attachments to this world must be broken. The Piercing of Soul thus concludes. Impale her with the Stake of Tattoos, the Rite of Commandment must be conducted, sleeping undisturbed for all eternity, dreaming the endless dream of the Rift.

Enclosed...Entombed in her Chamber of Thorns... She shall continue to feel the pain of the Holly for all time...

Miku closed the book slowly, and placed it on the shelf. "I can't believe someone could do that to a living person…" She thought sadly. As she set the book down, she heard something mechanical moving above her head and a ladder descended from the ceiling above her head. She walked up to the ladder and looked up. It was dark, as usual. She lifted her flashlight and didn't see much more. She climbed the ladder, and found herself in a small wooden anteroom. A door was to the left of the ladder. She saw a partition screen ahead and suddenly lost sight of it. She then saw it again, then it disappeared. She noticed that the lights in this room were flickering on and off. She tried to push away the dizzying effect it had on her, and walked over through the rows of partition screens. At the opposite side of the room was another door, this one white and larger. "Must lead to the cell…" Miku thought happily. She opened the door, and suddenly had to bend down. The ceiling became very low, but she saw right in front of her the cell. But the woman was gone…In her place was a round object and a diary. Miku moved around the small area before finding the tiny wooden door leading inside the small wooden lattice prison cell. She knelt down and saw the object was sewn to the kimono the woman had been wearing. She pulled it off and saw it was the Mirror of Loss all the documents had been talking about. It brought back terrible memories of The Holy Mirror at Himuro Mansion. She flipped it over and saw that the back had been engraved with a snake design that looked just like the tattoo. She tucked it away then picked up the Tattooed Diary 1. A woman named Reika had signed it.

_My father…my mother…my brother…_

_Everyone has gone to the other side. I have been left all by myself, just like that time I couldn't go with Kaname. An escort came from the Kuze Shrine. Those who know the pain of loss of loved ones become priestess' and by surrendering their flesh can save many people who know the same pain. But once you become a priestess and have the pain of the Holly engraved into you, you cant leave the shrine. My entire village is gone. Father, mother, brother, everyone. The whole village is gone… I am the sole survivor. There is nothing left for me. If it'd decided that I can never see them again then that means I can sleep for all eternity. I can save others with the same pain. Maybe being a priestess isn't as bad as I thought…_

Miku set the diary down and decided that since she had the Mirror of Loss she should go place it in the Shrine of Loss. She left the hanging prison and followed the hallways until she made it back to the skewered doll courtyard. She stopped to notice the elegance of the falling snow before heading through the door that had been sealed. The one that led to the shrine… Miku went down the set of steps and walked down the walkway to the shrine. She opened the doors, and saw the needle pierced sacks in the corners of the room. Ahead was the Shrine of Loss Altar, and behind it was the area closed off. "The mirror opened the way…" She thought. She walked up to the altar and placed the mirror in its pedestal. A section of the box opened up, and Miku hurried over to it. Inside was a stone bed carved from rock protruding from the middle of the floor. It was in the shape of a person. She looked closer, and saw dark red blood stains and blue ink. "So, the Tattooing Ceremony took place here…" She thought sickly. Beside the bed on a wooden drawer were needles. Miku shivered, and pushed on the large stone double doors behind the bed. They opened up, and she was faced with a large set of descending steps. Paper talismans and sacred rope lined the way down. Several blue lanterns lit the way down, and cast an eerie blue glow on the stone walls. She took a step down, and then another, and then another, knowing each step took her farther away from reality. At the bottom was another larger set of double doors covered in talismans. She pushed on them, and heard the terrible Tattooed Priestess' voice, which from what she gathered was Reika.

"No one will survive…no one…"

This opened up to an impossibly huge area. It was easily deeper than the Demon Mouth at the Himuro Mansion, and definitely wider. A rickety set of old wooden steps led the long way down. Miku closed her eyes and took a breath, and began her way down. As she went further, her vision was slowly replace by the black and white haze. The miasma was strong in this area. She saw several candles and some piles of rounded rocks at the bottom. In the middle of the ceremonial ground set-up was Amane, one of the four handmaidens impaled to the ground with many metal stakes. As she neared the body she heard the handmaidens.

"_You can't escape from here…"_

"_We have to do this, she broke the commandment…"_

"_Please don't stake me!"_

"_We have no choice…!"_

"_Why…?!"_

"_You can't run away…you can never run away…"_

"_You're a traitor…"_

Miku wiped a tear away. These poor girls were ten years of age at the oldest, and yet they went through almost as much as Miku has in her nineteen years of living. She blinked, and the body disappeared leaving only a bloodstain and the stakes in the ground. And then before her eyes the other three handmaidens appeared, each holding a hammer and stake, and the camera's filament was glowing a deep shade of crimson… Miku raised the camera on the closer one. Her hair reached her knees, and she seemed to be the quickest. She snapped a photo, and the one with a single ponytail advanced toward Miku, her stake and hammer raised. Miku fell back to avoid the ghost's powerful hit. The loud _**DING! **_Of the hammer connecting with the stake filled her ears. The last one, who's hair came down to her neck was standing in the corner watching until she disappeared-

-and reappeared in front of Miku, aiming her stake at Miku's feet.

"Does it hurt…?"

Miku brought the camera down quickly and snapped a photo. Suddenly pain coursed through her body, and she saw one of the stakes going through her arm. Thank God it was ghosts, otherwise she would probably bleed to death. Miku thrust forward, moving away from the handmaiden. The other two were swarming around Miku as though they were bees and Miku was intruding in their hive. Miku tried to snap random photos, and finally connected a shot with the one with long hair. She screamed and disappeared in a flash. The other two handmaidens advanced Miku at the same time, and she only had time to take a picture of the one with short hair. The one with the single braid hit the stake, and Miku barely missed it. She waited until both were in the viewfinder and snapped a 'Fatal Frame'. They disappeared, and Miku took a second to regain normal breathing. A set of double doors was ahead, and Miku was almost afraid to keep going. Something then snapped in her head, and she was overcome with grief to find Mafuyu… She advanced forward, opening the doors. What she saw next was the Last Passage. It was a long, narrow bridge with water surrounding it. At the end was a large wooden door with a red Shinto Gate above it. With the light of her flashlight she saw the impaled spirit of Amane walking down the bridge, whispering in a sad tone.

"I've wanted to see you for so long brother…"

Miku then saw someone walking in front of Amane. It was the man in the navy kimono. So that was Kaname? He then appeared to be wearing black pants and a white jacket. It couldn't be…"Brother…?" Miku called out. She then heard Amane.

"Kaname…?"

Miku then called out to the figure. "Mafuyu? Don't go that way…any further!" Miku then began to jog after what she thought to be her brother. "I-I'm sorry! I-I left you behind…all alone…" She yelled out her apologizes. Why wouldn't he stop? She reached the door, and knew that it might be a bad idea to go further. She knew what happened if you followed the dead. The same thing had happened to Mio and was happening to herself and Rei.

"I'll go there…with you…" Before she could opened the door she felt herself start to awake.

Rei sat up suddenly. It was pounding the rain again, and it appeared to be late at night. She threw her legs over the bed. "Miku…" She walked over to her door and went out into the dark hall. She turned left and walked to Miku's door. She knocked once and didn't wait for a reply. She opened the door and looked to the left toward her Futon bed. "Miku…?" She was balled up in the back of her bed, her hands wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees. "Rei…We're…going to die…" Rei took a step forward. She then saw something all over Miku's body. It was the tattoo. It was everywhere, aside from her face. Her hands, feet, chest, body, everything was covered in the tattoo. "Now I understand," Miku snapped Rei out of her trance at looking at her tattoos, "these tattoos. They are my punishment for living…for surviving," her voice began to break, "that day…" Rei stepped up and sat down beside her on the bed, wrapping one arm around her shoulder. She was so cold…Miku began speaking again, on the verge of sobs. "Ever since I was a child I've been able to see things other people can't. My brother was the only one who understood me…That's how I know that…we're going to die…"

"Miku," Rei pulled her closer, "oh Miku…We can get through this thing together. Everything is gonna be okay. Just remember…you're not alone…" Miku wiped away some of her tears. She seemed to calm a little. "Thank you…" Rei took that as a sign to leave, and stood up. "If you need anything just come on in to my room, okay?" Rei said halfway out the door. Miku nodded, and Rei headed back to her room, starting to wonder how much sanity she had left, or Miku. Rei felt her own tears come, and also felt her longing for Yuu.

"Yuu…tell me…Am I really supposed to be alive…?"

Miku lay back down. Was this worth it? She was suffering. Everything seemed to make sense. She closed her eyes and hoped she dreamt of the manor again…

Miku felt herself float and the ground disappeared from her feet. She heard Mafuyu's loving voice, and then Rei's. Who's should she follow? The ground hit her feet again, and she opened her eyes. She was in the foyer to Himuro Mansion. The front double doors behind her locked. She knew where she needed to go. She walked up and headed through the secret door with the angry mask on it. This led to the Fish tank Room. On one of the boards ahead she saw Mafuyu. "Wait! I'm coming!" Miku called out. She scurried across the room and went through the door into the prison area where the Himuro family kept Kirie for ten years. The nightmare had of course altered the house, and she knew ahead led to the Rope Altar Room where the Strangling Ritual took place. It was a place she never hoped to see again. She opened the doors, and was faced with the altar. The turntables sat eerily still. Ahead was the door that led to the Hell Gate. Miku's personal Last Passage. Suddenly, Kirie's tormented soul appeared by the altar. She began to speak in her low, deadly tone.

"Have you come to get your brother back…? We'll he's mine, and your so pathetic I laugh at you standing there with your precious camera…"

Miku narrowed her eyes. "This is just a nightmare bitch…and I want my brother back." Miku showed Kirie that she wasn't scared, that she wasn't one of her problems and that Mafuyu was her only care. Kirie screamed, her voice growing deeper. She transformed into her Calamity form, and Miku raised the camera, snapping picture after picture. Kirie receded, and finally disappeared. As evil as the nightmare was, the personal nightmare at Himuro Mansion with Kirie had ended two years ago, and Miku was determined to show that. After many shots, the camera was empty, and Kirie no longer haunted Miku. Miku fell back. "No, I have to go back to reality…back to Rei and just forget…" She thought. Toward the door to the Hell Gate she saw Mafuyu again. "If you follow the dead, you can't come back…" This thought buzzed in Miku's head. She pushed it out of the way. "One more time…" She thought. She rushed over and opened the door slowly. More memories of Himuro flooded her mind. She saw ropes hanging from the Shinto Gates. Past this area was the final destination. Up ahead she saw Mafuyu walking calmly away. "Ahh…Brother…" She began running after him. About halfway he stopped, and Miku stopped. He turned slowly, and she looked him dead in the eye. Did he finally recognize her? "…Mafuyu…" She said softly. They stared at each other for what seemed to be forever. He blinked-

-and turned away from her, striding toward the point of no return. "Ah…no…!" Miku took a step forward, then another, and before long she was running…

Rei laid her head down. So far, it seemed things could only be solved and fixed in her nightmares. Maybe sleeping was the only way out of the curse… She felt light, and then was suddenly running. She was asleep, but where? Rope surrounded her, and right in front of her was Miku chasing after the figure of Mafuyu. Rei kept her legs running. "Oh no…" She thought. She heard Miku scream.

"MAFUYU!"

"Miku! Miku don't follow him!" She called after her friend. Then she heard Miku's thoughts.

"_We all die eventually…But I never really thought about that until now…"_

"Once you follow the dead, you can't come back!! It might be easier to go to the other side, but don't give up! You can't give up!! He's already dead…! You're a stronger person than I am…You always courage and comfort me…" Rei hated that Miku could slip from her life any second and she had waited until now to tell her how she really felt.

"_I just want to see my brother…just once more…"_

"Please…don't go…Miku…!! I-I wanted to be with Yuu… Miku, don't leave me behind! Don't go!" She felt the tears start to come as realization hit her.

"_He's calling me…Mafuyu…I'm coming…!"_

Rei watched in sadness, horror, and disbelief as Miku ran further, out of sight…

…and out of Rei's life…

Rei's body jerked awake. "Miku…" She said quickly, rushing out of bed and toward her door. It was in the morning finally, and for a second the tattoo appeared on her body, but her senses seemed to be numb from fright. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall. She looked over at Miku's door-

-and saw that it was open ever so slightly. Her breathing quickened, and she took several slow steps toward her door. She moved her eye to where it was open a little bit and peered toward Miku's bed-

-and she Reika standing over her bed. She thrust the door open. "No! You can't have her! I wont let you!" Rei rushed into the room. Reika wasn't there. She walked over and kneeled beside Miku in the bed. She was so pale, and the tattoo was covering her entire body. The curse had sent her into a coma. Just like with Mio…Rei just sat kneeling by the bed for what seemed to be an eternity when eventually she heard her door bell ring. She sat for a second longer. "Go away…just leave me alone…" She thought sadly. It rang again. She stood up and headed out of Miku's room down the stairs and though the door to the foyer. She opened her front door-

-and was faced with the handsome features of Kei Amakura. He gave a quick bow and took off his shoes. "Rei, what's wrong? Why are you so quiet?" Rei wiped another tear away and said sadly "You remember Mafuyu's sister, Miku? Well the curse has taken her. She's in a coma, just like Mio…" Kei stepped up.

"Where is she?" Rei just turned and motioned for him to follow. She led him to Miku's room. He stood over her for a second, staring at her serene features. "How long has it been…?" He looked over at Rei, who was leaning against the door. She shook her head. "Umm….just this morning…" Kei looked back at Miku. He then felt soft pressure on his shoulder, and was surprised to see Rei's head leaning on his shoulder. She sucked in a shuddery breath. "I can't take any more…Are we…going to die…?"

"C'mon, let's go downstairs." He told her. Rei turned and they both walked into the living room. Kei sat on one end of the sectional couch, and Rei sat on the other. After a moment of the awkward silence, Kei reached over and pulled out a tattered book. It appeared to be a Tome. He looked up at Rei hopefully. "Rei, there might still be some hope…" She leaned her head to the side and crossed her arms. "He was just here to help, why be so cold…?" She thought. "Why do you say that?" She asked, and scooted closer to him on the couch. He opened the book. "This book was left inside an old shrine not far from the Manor of Sleep. It seems to date back when the manor was known as an Engraving Shrine." He handed her the book. She was very careful with it. She read the first few lines. This book was what Miku had placed in the altar bookshelf, the Commandment Tome! He got another book out. "Also, there is this book written by a scholar. He tells about the lullaby, The Sleeping Priestess." He handed her the book. It was in much better shape, and read able.

Legend of Song 2

After extensive research on the lullaby, I have finally found the 2 verses and the "lost" third verse.

Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace… Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace…  
If you Cry, the Boat you'll Ride  
The Last Trip to the Other Side   
Once you get there, Sacred Marks you'll bear  
They shall be pealed off, Should you Fail to Lie still

Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace… Sleep Priestess, Lie in Peace…  
If the Priestess wakes from her dream…  
Perform the Rite of Stakes, her limbs pinned tight  
Lest the doors open wide, and suffering unleashed on all…

Go to the Other Side… Go to the Other Side  
Cast the Boat, take a ride  
Cross the Rift, to the Other Side  
Further and Further to the Other Side  
It must sail bearing your Tattoo, and our offering of tears

Also found was a poem.

Break fresh skin, engrave the Holly. Impale the Tattoo Stake. Subdue for eternity. To sleep in the Rift…

Rei handed the book back over. Did you see where it says that the Rite of Commandment, or Rite of Stakes involves impaling the priestess with the Tattoo Stakes?" Rei nodded.

"Well, it says that this will subdue her for eternity. Apparently the Rift has spread and the Tattooed Priestess, or Reika as we now know, will stop at nothing to finish her curse. But if we can impale her with the Tattoo Stake, maybe we can put her to rest. Those stakes must be somewhere in the manor. Looks like to save ourselves, Miku, and Mio…we have to sleep…"Rei looked into his eyes.

"How could I sleep after what just happened?" Kei shook his head. Rei sat for a moment, and then jumped up. "I got it…" She walked into the kitchen and reached into the medicine cabinet. She pulled out a brown bottle. It was sleeping pills. The doctor had prescribed them to her after Yuu had died for depression and insomnia. She walked out with the bottle and a glass of water and set them on her glass coffee table. "I'm not sure if I follow you…" Kei said.

"Listen, if you take these pills, then you can sleep and look for the Tattooed Stakes, and then when it looks like your in trouble and you start mumbling and squirming, I'll wake you up! It's what Yoshino Takigawa had asked me to do, but I went to the hospital too late." Kei smiled. "Give me those pills…" He said with a chuckle. Rei handed the sleep aid to him, and he swallowed them with a swig of water. "Now or never…" He told her, and she wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you…"Rei whispered. Kei smiled back at her. But underneath the smile he was worried… He lay down on the couch and began to think.

"Either way, now matter what happens…It'll all be over soon…"


	15. Hour 14: The Rite of Commandment

Hour 14

The Rite of Commandment

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_Front of the Manor of Sleep. _**DING! **_Amane is impaling a doll to the wall with much force. _**DING! **_A large stone tomb's double door's opening. _**DING!**_

Strangely enough, Kei opened his eyes standing and holding the Camera Obscura and flashlight. He was standing outside of the Shrine of Loss, and he could feel miasma heavy in the air. "Impale the priestess to subdue her…Those Tattoo Stakes must be somewhere within the manor…" Kei thought. He walked forward, and decided that heading out of the area with the miasma would also be a good. Even though the miasma had seeped into the manor, it still wasn't as strong as it was in the Shrine of Loss area. He opened the doors to the skewered doll courtyard, and stopped. A terrible presence fell over him. He heard a raspy moan coming from out of sight to his right. He crept forward and peeked over the wall. He saw the blue tattooed covered body. She was standing upright, looking slowly and deadly left and right, facing opposite of Kei. It was the Tattooed Priestess, Reika… Kei jerked his head back out of sight. How was he supposed to get around her. Sure the courtyard went in a square, but unless he was extremely quiet she would more than likely see him. He gripped the camera and turned off the flashlight, and started heading opposite the way Reika was standing. There was a locked door where he was heading, but maybe he could slip into one of the Red Doll Rooms. He tried putting as less weight down as he could as he walked down the small corridor. His foot hit a bad spot, and the old wooden floor seemed to squeak so loud that it burst his eardrums. He immediately broke out into a run, and he heard the horrible voice of Reika behind him.

"I found you…! Everyone's going to die…"

Kei slipped on the snow falling in through the opened area over the courtyard, and he landed on his hand. He was up again in seconds, and did a quick spin to snap several pictures of Reika in hope to slow her down. It only made her stride faster…He opened the door and ducked down to enter through the low door. He hit his head, but ignored the immediate pain it brought. He slammed the door closed and ran to the other side of the room, turning to face the door. He felt Reika near the door, and heard her whisper,

"You can't escape me…"

After a few minutes the presence passed. Kei let out his breath, and realized he had held it the entire time Reika had stood outside the door. He felt safe in the small room, with the candle on the drawer like altar casting glows off the red dolls staked to the walls. Well, it was creepy as well as safe. He walked over to the altar and noticed that the little cupboard in the back of the shrine was an altar. He reached over and fiddled with it and to his surprise it opened and four objects fell out. He picked one up, and felt his jaw open. It was four stakes, each one etched with the elaborate design of the snake tattoo. It was the four Tattoo Stakes. He felt his hopes soar. "We can still make it…!" He thought happily. He walked over and pressed his ear to the door and listened for Reika. It seemed she wasn't around anymore. He opened the door cautiously and looked both ways before venturing back into the corridor. He headed back around to the door leading to the Shrine of Loss and walked down the decorated path. The Shrine of Loss seemed more imposing now than ever, since Kei knew his destination. He opened the doors, and stepped up to where the Mirror of Loss was placed. Behind it the area was open. "It's what Miku had done…" Kei thought sadly as he remembered Miku's lifeless body in a coma. Also Mio's, she had less time than Miku. Maybe only a day or so left. "I pray to Buddha this works…" Kei thought. He walked around behind the altar and walked through into the tattooing area. It was hard to look at the bed, and he just continued on through the door. Ahead was a staircase lined with paper talismans and blue lanterns. At the dark bottom was a door covered in talismans. "Now or never…" He thought. He headed down the steps, his flashlight and the blue lanterns casting shadows on the walls. He sometimes mistook them for shadow ghosts. Or maybe they were? He pushed the thought out of his head and opened the door at the bottom. This opened up to an extremely large area, easily nine or ten stories. An old wooden spiral staircase led the way down, and in the middle was a pulley system that lowered a metal cage to the bottom. He didn't want to risk breaking the elevator type device, so he started down the stairs. He could faintly see candles at the bottom, and several piles of rock set up as a sacred ceremony type ground. He continued down the huge set of steps, and as he neared the bottom he heard the deep voice of the Kuze Head singing the Sleeping Priestess lullaby, which sounded much more demonic and morbid with her deep female voice.

"Sleep…Priestess…Lie in Peace…"

She seemed to be singing in a much slower pace as well, and out of tune. Finally reaching the bottom, he saw several stakes impaled to the ground and a large bloodstain. "So this is where Amane was impaled…" Kei thought. The singing by the Kuze Head had gotten louder.

"If you Cry the Boat you'll ride the Last- How could you lead a man to the Chamber of Thorns…?"

Kei jumped as she changed her tone and voice. Then suddenly the Kuze Head appeared by the large double doors opposite of him, and the filament was glowing red. He got her in the viewfinder and snapped a quick picture. She was across the room, so the damage wasn't too strong. This sent her flying toward Kei, and he sidestepped to avoid her attack. He turned around and tried to find her. Suddenly a pair of arms came from the wall and collided with his chest. He started gasping for air and lowered the camera. This gave the Kuze Head to rush attack at Kei, and she nailed him with her arm. He fell back, dropping the camera. "Oh shit not good…" Kei thought frantically. Aside from his pounding head and pain in his chest, he stood up as quickly as he could. The evil spirit was hovering near one of the piles of stones, and suddenly several of them flew from their place and was hurled at Kei's skull! He ducked low, and felt the blood rush to his pounding head. He almost passed out, but the urgency kept him up. He regained his posture-

-only to be socked in the stomach by a flaming candle. The woman laughed, saying

"How could a man like you enter the Chamber of Thorns…?"

Kei fell to his knees to dodge any more flying objects and picked up the camera. He raised it to what he hoped had the Kuze Head in the viewfinder and snapped photo after photo. On the third one he heard a scream, and held the camera in place and began to snap repeatedly. Finally, the apparition slowly disappeared in a moan of rage. Kei stood up, and took only a second to regain his breathing before continuing on. He didn't want the pain and weakness to overcome him and then he not feel up to continuing. He opened the large door, and immediately heard the sound of running water. A river? He saw he was in a large cavern, with a river flowing underneath the bridge ahead. Many rock fixtures hung from above, dripping water. It was very peaceful in all honesty. He walked down the bridge. At the end in front of the door was a Shinto Gate laced with paper talismans and sacred rope. He passed underneath it, and opened the door. Past the door was a huge empty open area. Small paper lanterns floated on the heel high water. Three of them weren't lit, and the other eleven or so were lit. At the far end was a huge stone chamber, its stone double doors opened slightly. "There it is I bet…" Kei thought. He hurried across the large open area, two Tattoo Stakes in one hand and the other two in the other hand. The small set of steps leading up to the doors were slick with moisture. He opened the door enough for his male frame to fit through, and immediately felt a difference in the air. The miasmic vision returned, and the flashlight died out. He suddenly felt like a hundred pounds were on his shoulders, and any ache or pain seemed to intensify. "What's going on here…? My body feels so…heavy…" He took two slow steps forward, and looked down as his foot hit something. It was a staked hand. He backed up a little. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a woman staked to the ground, and then another, and then another. He looked over at the walls, and they too were covered in tattooed women. It was liked the Red Doll Room, only with real people. They all had the same tattoo. It then hit Kei. He was in the sacred Chamber of Thorns. All of the previous Tattooed Priestesses were all here, still sleeping peacefully. He stepped on into the chamber, and noticed a blue glow toward the middle of the room. It was illuminating a body. "That's…!" He looked closer and saw it was Reika's body! So even though her spirit roamed the manor, her body was still here. He gripped the stakes tight, and recited a section from the Commandment Tome. "Impale her with the Stake of Tattoos… The Rite of Commandment must be conducted, sleeping undisturbed for eternity…" He stopped talking as he looked at her four limbs. "Can't…be…" He lowered the stakes he had in his hands. "It can't be…!" There were already stakes in her hands and feet, impaling her to the ground. _**DING! **_One of the stakes in her hand rose up a little. _**DING! **_It rose up a little more, followed by one in her foot. Even though it sounded like the stakes were being driven into the limbs, every time Kei heard the deafening sound of the hammer hitting the stake, one would rise up. It was like going in reverse.

_**DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !… DING !**_

Kei kept backing up further and further. He then realized what the Kuze Head had been saying all along. No man could enter the Chamber of Thorns, no exception. He just did…He turned to leave the ghastly chamber when-

-the stone doors slammed shut, sealing him in…

Rei jumped up. "Oh no not Kei…" She thought. It was early in the morning, wit the sun peaking up over the mountains. She rushed out of her room and headed down stairs. She felt her heart drop. All traces of hope vanished. Kei was no longer on the couch. In his place was a black soot mark in his masculine shape…Rei fell to her knees. Kei was gone, and with him gone Mio had no chance of surviving. Two lives lost in the blink of an eye. How could Rei save Miku and herself all alone? No one was around to help her now. Rei began to cry, her loud sobs seemed to echo. All she wanted to do was die. Maybe then she could see Yuu…Rei looked up again at the mark, and suddenly felt extreme anger toward Reika. She loses one person and decides to steal away Rei's loved ones? She stood up and walked over to Kei's open brown leather tote bag. She wasn't going to throw a pity party; she had to do something. On top was a well-thumbed notebook. Rei opened it and read:

**I examined of the third verse of the Sleeping Priestess lullaby, and I thought that maybe the lyrics in the verse don't mean to "make sleep" or to "impale" but rather, to send off the priestess. The Mutsu area practices an ancient spirit world religion at the Kuze Family Mountain. It's said that there is a sacred area called the "Sea of Endless Night." On certain maps there is drawn a huge sea-like area behind the Manor of Sleep. Maybe it represents the Other World? Could that be where the priestess is relinquished? **

Rei set the notebook down, a little unsure on what to do. "So, if I don't impale the priestess with Tattoo Stakes, I'm supposed to send her away at the Sea of Endless Night…?" Underneath the notebook in his back was an old cassette tape. On the label was the last name "Ototsuki." Rei gave one last mournful glance at the soot mark on her couch and headed up to her room to play the tape. She placed it in her tape deck.

"_Yes I'm Kaname…Kaname Ototsuki…Snow was falling…There was a big manor. And inside it there was an old shrine. I could hear singing. She's in there! Reika is in there! …No, further in! It was much deeper…darker…like somewhere under water. This was a very vivid dream…! It was so lifelike! I heard there was a place like this in the village where I was found, a place where you could meet the dead, like a Rift to the Other Side. There's a shrine there where you can offer up your pain. Huh…? Yeah! That's right! Kuze, the Kuze Shrine! There, Reika accepted the tattoos…the pain…and in the end… I must go back, to the manor. I've got to see Reika. If I see her I don't know what I'll do but if I don't go she'll-_

The tape ended abruptly. Rei was kind of shocked. "So, Kaname was the man who Amane led into the Chamber of Thorns. He just wanted to see Reika…" Rei thought. She looked down at the table and saw the sleeping pills and the glass of water still sitting there. Rei knew what she had to do. It was the only way. When nightfall came, she would take the pills and enter the nightmare and with her newly acquired information would try to end the curse. Rei thought almost happily,

"A man might not be able to enter the Chamber of Thorns…

…But I can…"

Rei finished her steaming hot shower. The sound of the water pounding on the tile floor reminded her of the pouring rain the night of the accident. It still seemed like only yesterday. She wiped a tear from her wet face. So much had happened the past week. She felt the sobs start to come back, but she fought them off. She couldn't give up now. She felt the terrible prickly pain over her body again, and saw the ugly tattoo covering her body again. She walked over to her steamy mirror, and saw it only stopped at her neck. Unless she accomplished something tonight, this might very well be her last shower. The tattoo disappeared and she dressed and headed back up to her room. On her nightstand beside the old Camera Obscura she had gotten from Yuu's room was the glass of water and two sleeping pills. After embracing herself, she picked up the two pills and brought them to her mouth. Before she could finish, she heard soft static, and an even softer female voice. She looked around and saw it came from the Spirit Stone radio she had acquired from Yuu's room. She heard a softer, kinder, and somewhat sadder voice of Reika.

"I want to see you again…I know I can't see you again but still, if I could see you just one more time Kaname…"

"It must be receiving from somewhere else in the house." Rei thought. She turned off the radio and heard the voice again. It seemed to be across from her room in Miku's room. Dreading the fact that she would have to see her friend in the state she was, Rei headed out of her own room and into Miku's. The sound got noticeably louder. She stopped herself from looking over at Miku and looked around the room. The sound seemed to be coming from above… Rei looked up and saw the outline of the attic. It hadn't been opened since Rei had put Yuu's things from his parent's house inside. She reached up and pulled the string, lowering a ladder. She climbed up, and saw that everything was still piled as she remembered. Over in a corner Reika's voice was the loudest. Rei walked over and saw something small wrapped in cloth. She picked it up and saw it was a beautiful earring. "The other one to the one she had given Kaname…" Rei thought. The voice stopped. Wrapped up with it was an investigation report. It read:

**The Other World**

**Same Dream: Kaname Ototsuki**

I have been discussing with a man named Kaname about the same dream he has been having for weeks now. He was found passed out in his hometown village in the Mutsu area inside an old shrine. His dreams consist of noticing a snow covered shrine. He has heard of the shrine, called the Kuze Shrine, somewhere in his hometown. From deep in the shrine he hears the voice of the woman he left behind. Beckoned by the voice he goes a little further into his dream shrine. He says eventually he comes to a huge cave deep inside the shrine and a river flows there. There was a large pit and the base of it is the sea. He talks of an ancient ceremony that is held there and it is where one can meet the deceased. This statement is clearly about the Other World, particularly the "Underworld." According to a story there was a legend in his hometown about the "Other World" and dreams and many of his dreams are similar to it. He says in his region that they have an ancient legend about a sea called the Sea of Endless Night that exists in the mountain. There they have many legends related to dreams. For example dreams are called the "Rift" and traverse the border between the Other World and the real world. If you continue to have nightmares the deceased will apparently return from the Underworld. The shrine exists in order to prevent the nightmares. There resides the "priestess" who sleeps in the Rift and will take on the nightmare. The voice that Kaname hears may be that of the priestess that sleeps in the shrine of the Other World, communicating the existence of the Rift. The morning after I recorded his testimony he suddenly disappeared, leaving behind his entire luggage. Did he go to see the woman from his hometown? The earring he left is made of Echo Stone and in ancient times is said to be ale to keep the thoughts of the dead and make communication possible. The woman named Reika, he says, gave the earring, to him. He said her name was Reika Yukishiro (Yukishiro was the name of her village people) but it changed to Reika Kuze when she was adopted by the Kuze Family Head (Yashuu Kuze) to become a special figure in a ceremony practiced in the Kuze mountain area.

Rei set the notebook down. It was good to understand some of the story now. She looked over at an old clock and saw it was ten thirty two. "Time to sleep…" She thought. She left the attic and Miku's room and went back into her own. She sat down on her bed and again picked up the pills and swallowed, chasing it with the water. Something in her mind told her to take the Camera Obscura on her desk and slip it under her pillow. She felt her tears come again at the thought of Yuu. She covered up, her mind slipping into sleep. Her last thought was,

"If I see Yuu…I don't know…Am I supposed to be alive…?"


	16. Hour 15: The Calling of the Tattoo

Hour 15

The Calling of the Tattoo

Images in a white haze. _**DING! **_The front of the Manor of Sleep, snow falling softly on its quiet structure. _**DING! **_The spirit of Yuu Aso hovering in his bedroom. _**DING! **_The Kuze Head in the Shrine of Loss, performing the Tattooing Ritual. _**DING! **_The doors to the Chamber of Thorns opening. _**DING!**_

Rei opened her eyes, and she was lying in the four-branched hallway. The small water candles that had been placed along the base of the wall had all completely died out, and the only light was the glow of the flashlight. She reached out and picked it up, then grabbed the Camera Obscura. She stood up, wiping the dust and grime from her body. From far away she heard what sounded like several girls talking at the same time. Oddly enough each voice sounded exactly like Reika's did before the Rift spread and she became the Tattooed Priestess. Rei walked forward, and decided to go left toward the projector screen room, a room she hadn't entered much. She looked over at the projector screen-

-and the figure of Reika before the ritual appeared, saying in a sad tone,

"I can feel the thoughts of so many people being etched into me…So many voices…So much pain…Please don't forget me…This is my voice, my memory, and my pain…"

The figure disappeared. Underneath where it had been standing was a fragment of glass. Rei was ready to leave it be, but curiosity came over her and she walked over and picked up the item. After examining it, she saw it was a piece from the Mirror of Loss. Etched on the rim of it was the words "My pain…my memory…" So, what Rei had heard was what Reika had said at this particular part of the mirror before shattering it. Rei stuck it in her pocket, and then began her search for the other pieces. She left the projector room and headed back out into the four branched hallway. She decided to check the courtyard. She headed through the door that led to the closet hallway and then down the corridor to the door leading to the courtyard. Outside, the snow hadn't picked up much, although it was still cold. Rei walked over to the little skewered doll garden and saw at the base of the big tree in the middle was another piece. She walked closer, and Reika appeared again.

"Kaname…I never wanted to leave you…I wanted to be with you. I'm here, I'll always be here…"

Rei walked down after the apparition disappeared and picked up the fragment. On the rim of this piece was "I wanted us to be together again…" She slipped it in her pocket.

"So, Reika is putting all her love and connection into this mirror, and then she shatters it. That way she has no connection to the real world and can dream…" Rei thought. She turned and left the courtyard and headed toward the doors leading to where the Shrine of Loss was. Inside, she saw something reflecting the light of her flashlight near the pond next to the shrine. She saw Reika again.

"I want to see you again…I know I can't see you again but still…if I could just see you once more…once more…just one more time…"

Rei walked over and picked up the fragment. On the rim of it was "I want to see you again…" Rei placed it with the other two and headed over to the storehouse like building next to the shrine. Inside by the broken staircase in front of her was another piece, and Reika appeared

"I feel like you've been in my dreams for so long…over and over…but I don't want this dream anymore…"

Rei picked up the fourth piece and saw "This whole time…I've been dreaming…" etched into the rim. She placed it with the others and left the storehouse and walked over to the shrine, hoping the last piece would be in the shrine. As she opened the door, she saw the ghost of Reika standing by the Shrine of Loss Altar,

"I will shatter my memories…these shards…these pieces of me…"

Rei walked over to the altar, and saw that the last fragment was lying on top of another tattooed diary, the diary of Reika. "My longing…my memory" was on the final piece, and she placed them together. They seemed to bond the instant all sides connected, and the Mirror of Loss was whole again. She picked up the diary and read it:

_I endure the Piercing of Soul so people can wash away their feelings. The pain of the Holly engraved on me shows me many dreams. Many kinds of pain, and love. I take on the pain of being left alone…the pain of living. But these pains, these pains I bear, they do not fade, but are engraved somewhere hidden, and remain. Of the various pains, the more vivid ones ache most intensely. Nobody will take MY Holly…It is mine alone…I engrave my feelings, my Holly, in this mirror and break them here. Because they are my feelings alone. But if it were in my power, I would see Kaname one more time… _

Rei set the diary down. It was such a sad story. Reika went through so much, and her last wish was just to see Kaname again. When his sister, the handmaiden Amane led him to the shrine, did he ever make it and see her again…? With the mirror together Rei placed it in its holder and headed to the back of the room. Reika's spirit as the Tattooed Priestess appeared in front of the double doors leading to the descending steps that would take her to the Last Passage, whispering in her deep raspy voice

"It's my fault…it's all my fault…"

Rei jumped back, and hit the stone bed. She looked back and saw a cartridge of film that looked like the tattoo. It was labeled Type-Tattooed Film. Strongest film of all, and even better than Type-Zero which was strongest but takes longest to load.

Rei stuck the film beside the ten shots of 37. She checked how much 14 was left in the camera and saw that there were only three shots left. She closed the film door and opened the door to the staircase. Some of the blue lanterns had burn out, making the set of stairs seem more ominous. She walked down the fifteen or so steps, and realized that the double doors in front of her led to the bridge with the river underneath it, the river that probably emptied into the Sea of Endless Night, the Last Passage… She took a deep breath, and placed her hands on the door, ready to open it.

"From now on there is no going back…is there? Yuu…I…"


	17. Hour 16: The Sea of Endless Night

Hour 16

The Sea of Endless Night

Rei walked down the long bridge, marveling at the large cavern. Rock structures were formed on the high ceiling, occasionally dripping water. Ahead were large wooden double doors with a blue Shinto Gate right before it, made into the bridge. She walked slowly to the door, looking at the softly glowing paper lanterns floating on the water that was flowing down past the doors. "Probably toward the sea…" Rei thought. Near the Shinto Gate was a small shrine offset to the path. Rei walked over to it and saw several paper talismans and two blue lanterns. Splintered fragments of the stone Mirror of Loss lie scattered around the small shrine. Rei looked around and saw several other small pieces scattered about. "Is this where the priestess shattered the mirror? Shattering the mirror and letting go of her attachments…and then proceeding to the other shore…" Rei thought. She continued down the bridge and opened the large wooden double doors. Ahead was a cage suspended on a pulley system that would lower it. All of a sudden her mind seemed to go into a flashback, and she saw Yashuu Kuze, the Kuze Head, over near the mechanism to start the pulley. "This is it, Engravers…It's time for the priestess to sleep…" Yashuu said to the two needle woman on either side of her, which Rei now knew were called "Engravers." Reika was in the cage, her topless body and face covered in the blue tattoo. Her head was leaning on her shoulder, as though asleep. She suddenly reached out through one of the bars in the cage, and Rei saw Kaname appear. He reached out toward Reika's hand. Before they could touch however, the cage began to lower, and Reika's suspended body took the long trip down. Rei blinked a few times. The old cage was still suspended by the pulleys. She walked up to it, and pulled on it a little. It still seemed to be sturdy. Suddenly something came over her, and she knelt down and entered the cage. She sat down in the same way Reika was setting-

-and the cage began to lower. Rei reached out, and saw Yuu appear reaching for her hand. Although it was too late, and the cage was already lowering to the bottom. The spiral staircase swirled around her as she descended. Finally the cage hit the bottom in the middle of the piles of rocks and candles, the ceremonial ground. Rei quickly got out, and saw another tattooed diary in front of the cage. She picked it up and read it:

_I had a dream about him. In the Rift, that hell of Holly, he came before me, as I was to be lowered into the Abyss. Yashuu does not notice. It's my dream after all… He extends his hand. I do too. Just as out fingers are about to touch, the Holly abates, just a bit. I didn't loose myself. But we couldn't touch. Even I, who have been engraved with the Holly of so many people, even I might still be able to dream of him…In my eternal sleep…_

Rei dropped the diary, and decided that she needed to press forward. The tattoo had spread as far as it would on her body. There was no time left. Unless she stopped the curse, there wouldn't be a next time to wake up. She would become a mere soot mark to be found by the few people that knew her. She walked out of the ceremonial area and through the large stone double doors. This led to another bridge area, with another set of wooden doors up ahead. She could only imagine how far underground she was. Not to mention the ride she had just taken. She walked down the bridge, going unusually slow. She was dreading the area coming up, a reason was simply because she didn't know exactly what was beyond the door. Was it the Sea of Endless Night? Or was it the Chamber of Thorns? Guessing wouldn't solve anything. She continued on to the end, and slowly placed her hands on the doors. "Now or never…" Gripping the camera and flashlight tightly, she pushed the doors open. She was immediately faced with a huge, open area filled only to the heel with water. Paper lanterns floated sparsely in the water, and at the far opposite end was the triangular stone Chamber of Thorns. The doors were still open a little where Kei had tried his attempts at stopping Reika. Rei walked forward, her feet making wet sounds on the stone and water. As she stood before the steps leading up to the chamber, she was hesitant. She could already feel the miasma flowing from inside the chamber. The flashlight was slowly dying, and she had minimal film. Deciding against the odds, she headed up the steps, through the doors, and into the dark, gloomy chamber…Upon entering, her flashlight died, but the miasma didn't affect her as it did Kei. No man was allowed in the chamber, that was a sacred rule. But because of her gender she could enter freely. Unless of course it pissed Reika off. She tried hard not to stare at the other lifeless Tattooed Priestesses. Their cold, dead stares seemed to pierce into Rei's every nerve. Suddenly she saw a figure pass in front of her, carrying an antique lantern with a tattoo candle in it. He was wearing a navy kimono. It was Kaname! So that's how he was able to enter the Chamber of Thorns without the affects of the miasma, he had brought with him a Purifying Light candle. Rei watched as a gruesome scene unfolded. Kaname looked around the hoard of the dead women, searching for the one he could place a name to a face with. Finally he stopped at a woman lying on the ground, her limbs lying out from her body.

"…Reika?" He said softly. Her eye's opened to slits, and Rei saw her move her head in Kaname's direction. "Reika!" He called again, unable to tame the excitement in his voice. Although the pain of the Holly and the tattoo was engraved all over her body, Reika smiled too. Kaname chuckled, and his smile grew. Rei couldn't help but feel happy for the two lovers. But fate quickly turned into disaster. Kaname fell to his knees by Reika and began to say something. "In my dreams, I-" He stopped abruptly as a sickening snap echoed in the chamber. Yashuu was standing behind him with a sledgehammer. Rei saw Reika's eyes grow wider, and her smile turned into a horrified frown. Yashuu began speaking in a low, angry voice,

"Why did that handmaiden lead a man to the Chamber of Thorns? You must not enter the Chamber of Thorns…You must not disturb the priestess who lies asleep…"

Rei looked down again at Reika and saw something start to course through her eyes. It was the tattoo and the Holly. It filled her eyes until they began to glow blue. "Oh no…" Rei mumbled. She remembered reading that once the Holly spreads into the priestess' eyes, they will reflect the pain like mirrors and force all the pain and loss back into the world. There was a sudden flash, and in a deafening boom the tattoo rose up and spread like wildfire. Reika had watched her only love and happiness die, and thus the curse of the tattoo was born. She heard Reika whisper almost sadly,

"I don't want to see…anymore…"

Rei blinked, and heard the sound of the stakes falling again. Only this time, she heard the moaning of Reika as the Tattooed Priestess. In a swift, almost robotic movement Reika was on her feet. She stood with her black hair lying in locks around her face and down her back. The tattoo seemed to glow brighter, and the miasma became stronger. In anther quick movement Reika came forward, easily clearing five feet. And in another movement, another five feet. Rei turned and ran from the chamber, slipping on the wet steps and screaming. She heard the doors open completely. She had gone in to try and fix things, but had only let Reika escape from her confines of the Chamber of Thorns… Rei turned in mid stride to look back at the doors. She heard Reika's heavy breathing, and she appeared in a blue flash by the doors.

"No one will survive…no one…"

Rei felt the camera vibrating intensely, and looked down to see the filament flashing rapidly in shades of crimson. Rei raised the camera, and began shooting pictures. In mere seconds the rest of her 14 film was gone, and she threw in the 37. Reika was oblivious to the shots, and began a slow stride toward Rei. A large skeletal figure with huge wings like an eagle appeared above Reika's head. Rei snapped several more pictures, and the camera seemed to have no effect. Reika reached out in a moan, the viewfinder flashed red for a brief second. Rei hit the shutter button, and Reika repelled. Rei let out her breath, but quickly sucked it back in as Reika propelled herself off the ground and rose at least thirty feet to the large cavern ceiling. Bluish balls of energy shot from her body, and came barreling toward Rei. She dove down and covered her head to dodge the concentrated energy blasts. Rei stood up shakily-

-but Reika swooped down and lifted Rei from her spot on the ground and easily brought her six feet from the ground and threw her against the wall. The jagged stone wall tore into her back, and she slid back to the hard ground. She felt her breath leave, and the camera slip from her grasp.

"Now you'll know my pain…my nightmares…"

Reika started her stride toward Rei again, her arms outstretched. It took Rei all she had to kick herself away and reach for the camera. Reika came closer, and the tattoo seemed to flow off her like water. Rei grabbed the camera, and delivered a 'Fatal Frame' shot to Reika's face. She screamed, and the skeletal figure began to encircle Rei. Suddenly her vision was replaced by the black and white haze. The voice of Reika filled her ears,

"_That moment…always in my eyes…etched in…over and over…again…again…the tattoos…"_

Rei felt the miasma seep into her lungs, and she picked up the camera. It was hard to spot Reika, but she saw her toward the Chamber of Thorns' entrance. She snapped several photos, and they had no effect. Reika started her pursuit for Rei, and she realized that one touch from Reika as the miasma was thick would surely kill her in one grab. She started to run in the opposite direction, Reika's deep voice repeating the same phrase over and over, and it was accompanied by the pounding of the hammers. Rei slipped on the water, and caught herself with her hand. She started again, and as she neared a stone wall slipped again. She turned to look and see how close Reika was when the miasmic field disappeared. Rei stood up, and threw out the 37 film and loaded the Tattooed Film. There were only five shots. "Better make 'em count…" Rei thought. She looked around and saw Reika in the air again. Rei caught her in the viewfinder and waited for her to start her swoop attack. As she started, Rei waiting until she got closer, and snapped a 'Fatal Frame'. Rei could tell much more intensity in the shot, as Reika screamed louder than before. She began her stride again, this time an angry look on her face.

"Everyone is gonna die…" She whispered menacingly.

Rei got her in the viewfinder, and as she got closer hit the shutter button. But the skeletal figure came down in front of Reika's body and repelled the shot. Rei felt herself lift from the ground again, and took another opportunity to snap another photo. This one wasn't a 'Fatal Frame', but it connected with her face and she dropped Rei. Suddenly, the miasmic air returned, and Reika appeared much closer. Rei pulled her weak body up and started to run away from Reika. She risked a glance back and saw her moving faster with her arm outstretched. Rei looked forward and saw she was running toward the Chamber of Thorns. She remembered Kaname had brought one of the Tattooed Candles with him. Maybe she could use that and destroy the miasmic field? Rei felt adrenaline go throughout her veins and pushed her legs harder. She ran up and into the chamber, and saw the lantern near Kaname's body. The candle was on the verge of going out. Rei ran over and picked it up, and then turned and ran back to the front doors. She saw through her hazy vision Reika walking slowly up the stairs. "Eat this…" Rei mumbled through gritted teeth and hurled the lantern at Reika. It connected with her chest, and the flame covered her body. Rei covered her eyes as Reika's body emitted the bright blue light. She screamed, waving her arms around. The miasma disappeared, and the flame disappeared from Reika, leaving a nasty burn. Rei rose the camera and began firing the last three shots of the Tattooed Film at Reika. She fell back and pushed the shutter button again-

-only to hear the dry click of an empty cartridge. Rei's breath caught in her throat. What now? She crawled backward, and felt Kaname's body hit her fingers. Beside that was something cool, heavy, and smooth. She brought it close to her eyes and saw it was one of the Tattooed Stakes Kei had brought in. Rei got an idea. Reika walked closer and closer, her arm outstretched. Rei let her body relax, and felt Reika over her body.

"Now, it's your turn. No one has ever survived this curse…"

she whispered. At that moment, Rei rose her hand up and in one swift movement brought the pointed end of the stake down and connected with Reika's head. She fell to her knees.

"Please…let me sleep…"

She fell to the ground beside Kaname, her tattooed eyes open wide. Rei let out a shuddery breath. She reached out and placed her hand over Reika's eyelids and closed her eyes. "It's alright…to close your eyes now…" Rei sat on the ground a moment longer. She heard the sound of a door sliding upward from in the back of the chamber. She looked over and saw a dark tunnel. At the end was a white light. Rei got up and walked down the tunnel. As soon as she went out into the open, she saw she was on a shoreline of a beach. The full moon cast a pale glow on the white sand. And before her, stretched for many miles as far as the eye could see, was a sea of black water. "The Sea of Endless Night…" Rei whispered. At least a hundred paper lanterns were floating on the water, bobbing in rhythm with the waves. Tied up to a wooden pole on the water was an old wooden boat. Rei then began thinking, and Kei's notes and the lullaby made sense. She repeated the third verse to the lullaby. "Go to the Other Side…Go to the Other Side…Cast the boat…Take a Ride…Further and Further to the other side…." She went and dragged Reika and Kaname out to the boat. She placed them side by side in the boat, putting Kaname's hand over hers. She untied the rope and gave it a hard push. It set adrift on the water.

"It must sail bearing your tattoos…and our offering of tears…"

A white fog seemed to spread from the sea, and the boat disappeared on the horizon. She felt a strong presence behind her, and turned to look. She sucked in her breath as thousands of black human shaped shadows rose up, and began a slow stride into the sea. The lanterns slowly started going out, one by one. She then saw something out of the ordinary. Of the black shadows one looked like a person. He was wearing a vest over a green turtle neck and blue jeans. Rei gasped as she realized whom it was. "YUU!!" She began running out into the sea, the water quickly coming up to her waist. "Yuu! Don't go!!" She felt the tattoo spread on her body again, and this time though it didn't hurt. She kept wading as quick as she could, pushing through the black water. She started to feel herself cry, and she began to sob. "You can't leave me this time!" She slowed a bit to catch her breath. It looked like Yuu wasn't even slowing down. "…Please. I wanna go with you…" She stopped and lowered her head, then closed her eyes as the tears came. "You were always with me, no matter what… You gave me so much and I couldn't return a single thing… You were just, always… with me" She wiped some of her tears away as she was overcome with sadness. She then thought about it. "Because you were…always with me. That's how I survived…" She stopped and felt the muscles in her legs go weak. She started to sob even louder when suddenly warmth spread throughout her body. She felt large arms encircle her body. "I'm so sorry…so sorry…This time…I'm going with you!" Maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought. She just didn't care anymore. If she couldn't live with him, she would die to go with him…

"Thank you…" Rei looked up into her fiancés soft brown eyes with her wet, red ones. They were so sad and filled with concern. "I understand how you feel… I understand…" He said, his voice so compassionate. "But…I must go…and it must be alone…" Rei then felt something tingle throughout her body, and saw the tattoo start to swirl around her arm and flow freely from her body and onto Yuu's. To go he must take the pain of the tattoo, and he wanted Rei's. That's how he knew how she felt. Her body felt lighter as the curse was removed and the tattoo disappear. Rei watched as it covered his body and handsome features. He started to float away from her to join the black shadows. He smiled. "When you…when you die, I'll be gone forever. But as long as you go on living, a part of me will continue to live on." Rei reached out as she saw the love of her life go away from her for eternity. He turned and faced away from her, but she still heard his gentle voice.

"That's why…I need you to live…"


	18. Epilogue: Living With the Pain

Epilogue

Living With the Pain

Rei opened her eyes slowly as bright sunlight came in through her window. She sat up slowly and pulled the curtain back. It was about noon, and she saw kids running and playing outside. The rain had stopped. She looked down at her arms and legs. The tattoo didn't spread. There was no more pain. Yuu was now gone…forever. Or was he? "A long as I continue to live…" Rei thought to herself. She stood up and walked over to her door and went out into the hall. Her house looked so much bigger with the sunlight. She looked down at the couch, however, and felt like she had been hit in the stomach. There was still a black soot mark where Kei had been lying. The phone began to ring, and Rei just stood as her answering machine started. Miku's voice filled the quiet room. "Sorry, no one can take your call. Please leave your name and a brief message after the tone." There was a beep, and the voice of an older man filled the room. "Kei, look I know your helping Yuu's fiancé but I think you should come on back here. This is the hospital, and when a nurse went to go check on Mio this morning all she found was black soot marks. Please call me back when you get this." Rei felt her anxiety grow. She walked quickly to Miku's room and opened the door. She immediately fell to her knees. She hadn't been quick enough. All that rested in Miku's bed was a soot mark outlined in her small frame. Rei burst out crying, louder and harder before. She had lost everyone she loved and knew. After what seemed like forever of crying, cursing, and hating the world, and hating Reika, Rei stood up to go call an ambulance to report the deaths of Miku and Kei. She wiped her tears and thought solemnly…

"_**I'll go on living…even with the pain…" **_


	19. Alternate Ending: Reunion

Alternate Ending

Reunion

Rei opened her eyes slowly, almost dream like. Sun filtered in through her curtains. She sat up and slid back the cloth, and saw children playing outside for the first time in weeks. She heard footsteps coming up her steps. She sat quietly for a moment, frightened at the fact that maybe the curse wasn't gone…Her door suddenly burst open-

-and Kei ran into her room, engulfing her in a hug. "Rei! Rei your okay! You did it, you stopped the curse!" Rei began smiling.

"But what about-" She stopped as she heard a voice coming from across the hall.

"Rei? Rei where are you? Is it over?" It was Miku. The two jumped up and rushed into Miku's room. Miku looked up with wide eyes. Rei jumped on her bed and engulfed her in a hug. "Miku! I thought I had lost you forever!" Rei began crying tears of joy. Suddenly the phone rang, and the trio rushed downstairs. Rei answered in a shaky voice. "Yes, this is the Kurosawa residence. Yes Kei is here." She handed the receiver to him. "It's the hospital…" Rei said daringly.

"Hello?" Kei said. After a few moments his face was covered in a large smile. "Okay, that's great!" He said. He hung up the phone. Miku and Rei stood staring at him. "It was about Mio…She's alive! And the man said that a fifteen year old girl named Miyuu came in and Mio jumped up and hugged her, calling her Mayu…They said she seemed to get less pale and happier that instant…" Everyone yelled, and wrapped each other in a group hug. Miku stepped back. "I never really understood why I was allowed to survive that night, but now I understand why I'm allowed to live. To keep the memories-"

"-of those you love living on as well." Rei finished for her. They all stood silent for a moment when suddenly the doorbell rang. The three walked over past the kitchen to the front door. Rei opened the door. She tried hard not to stare at the people standing before her. They were two young men, one wearing a white jacket and black pants with shoulder length black hair, and the other was wearing a vest and turtleneck with short hair. It looked like Yuu and Mafuyu. The one with the longer hair spoke. "Yes, I'm Mafuu and this is my friend Yau. We just moved in as roommates and just wanted to say hi." He smiled, and the other one looked at Rei.

"Have I seen you before?" He asked. Rei smiled.

"No, but it's nice to meet you…" She said politely.

"_This was the start of a wonderful new life…" _Rei thought…


End file.
